Temporal Lobe Epilepsy (BDV)

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Biological déjà vu affects less of the population than ADV, but is more studied by psychologists. Biological déjà vu (BDV), specifically epileptic déjà vu, is also a significant form of DV that affects those who experienced seizures. Temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) is a disorder that is argued to affect the hippocampus and is associated with the most common form of BDV. BDV is déjà vu caused by biological signals in the brain. In TLE, epileptic patients report feeling a sense of déjà vu prior to having a seizure. It has been hypothesized that irregular electrical activity in the brain causes an experience that arouses familiarity. Patients have this feeling of familiarity from seizures because of the sustained hyperactivity in the brain that …show more content…

Vlasov and company (2014) studied patterns of electroencephalograpgy (EGG) in twenty healthy people and in twenty three patients with epilepsy. All subjects took a survey on DV and its characteristics. Of the twenty healthy patients, only one experienced DV, and of the twenty-three patients, only three experienced DV. Results were as follows: for patients, DV incidences started from the right temporal lobe and sometimes ended with a slow wave on the right side of the brain. These patients reported feeling anxious and fearful after episodes of DV, and on average, the DV state lasted longer than DV in the healthy subject. For the healthy subject, there was no sign of brain pathology. There were only moderate changes in the brain diffusion activity and only pleasurable feelings (interest, anticipation etc.) were reported. From this study, Researchers concluded that there are two types of DV. Healthy individuals are categorized as having nonpathological-nonepileptic DV, and those who suffer from epilepsy or share traits common of epilepsy are considered to have pathological-epileptic DV (Vlasov, …show more content…

Experimenters can conclude that the three main causes of DV is confusion in memory, attention and temporal lobe seizures. The theory of implicit familiarity in DV argues that memory is related to familiarity. Individuals use heuristic implicit memory to confuse what they deem to be a memory to what is just familiar. Inattentional blindness theory is used to explain the theory involving DV and attention. The DV attention theory states that DV occurs when one is only focused on a particular stimulus, but his brain takes in the entire environment. Lastly, there are two theories that are formed about TLE déjà vu. First, DV experienced by normal individuals or ADV, is different from DV experienced by patients with TLE. Secondly, DV that is experienced from TLE affects multiple regions of the brain, including the temporal lobe, hippocampus and the amygdala. Although, the studies of DV in itself may remain few and far between, the theories behind DV can help students have a better the understanding of memory, attention and cognitive science. Furthermore it may enable the growth in the psychology field which provides for more

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