The Deja Vu Experience

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The Deja Vu Experience

It has happened to me and it has probably happened to you. It is sudden and quick, leaving you as unexpectedly as it came. While the experience is clear and detailed it is often difficult to recapture. After feeling it, you usually find yourself saying, " Wow, I just had the strangest deja-vu." Through research I have become knowledgeable of interesting facts and causes behind deja vu. Because it is still a puzzling ongoing phenomenon, I hope to give you (my audience) a better understanding of the deja-vu experience. In the next few minutes, we will take a closer look at different facts of deja vu and 3 probable causes of this strange feeling: the brains memory, the influence of DNA, and the possibility of Reincarnation.

Let's begin by observing some facts about déjà vu. According to Merriam-Webster's Dictionary, "Déjà vu is the illusion of remembering scenes and events when experienced for the first time." Emile Boriac, who had a strong interest in the psychic phenomenon, first introduced the term in the late 1800's. He believed déjà vu was something influenced by one's past. Studies today show that as much as 70% of the population has experienced some form of déjà vu. A higher number of incidents occur in people between the ages of 15 and 25. Drug users and psychiatric patients are also more likely to have the déjà vu sensation. Benjamin Wolman, author of Handbook of Parapsychology, stated, "déjà vu experiences are more frequent among younger than older persons and that more women than men reported having déjà vu." Moving right along to the causes of déjà vu.

The first, and perhaps most common believed cause of déjà vu is from the brain and its memory. A mismatching in the brain ca...

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...ieve. In most cases, the distinct and haunting feeling of déjà vu develops from mismatches in the memory, ancestor's genes, or from a previous life once lived. With continuing research, perhaps this common phenomenon can someday be truly unmasked. But for now it still remains one of the minds most tantalizing and elusive tricks. Albert Einstein once quoted, "The Universe is stranger than we Imagine."

Bibliography:

Bibliography

"Déjà vu." Merriam-Webster's Dictionary. 2001 ed.

Wolman, Benjamin. Handbook of Parapsychology. New York, NY: Van Nostrand

Reinhold Company, 1977.

Geary, James. "Been There, Done That." Time. May 1997.

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/1997/int/970505/science.ben_there_don.html

Fraser, Sylvia. The Quest for the Fourth Monkey. Toronto, Ontario: Doubleday Canada

Limited, 1992.

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