I Feel Like I’ve Been Here Before
The science behind Déjà vu and society’s fascination with the phenomenon in music and film
Written by Maddie Gamble, Lifestyle Staff Writer
Photographed by Elliot Dunnwald, Contributing Photographer
Modeled by Ada Krasinski
Déjà vu is an odd sensation to feel. You relive a moment you don’t even remember experiencing. A sense of tedious familiarity sweeps over you, and for a second, the whole world stands still.
But how does it all work? How can I experience something for the first time, again?
Déjà vu is a French term meaning “already seen,” a pretty literal definition for the phenomenon. It is characterized by two main components: an intense feeling of familiarity and a certainty that the current moment is novel (O’Connor et al., 2021). Déjà vu is also described as a dissociative experience resulting from metacognition evaluation, the process we use to plan, monitor and assess understanding and performance. This dissociation aligns the current experience with similar instances where metacognitive or subjective processes become separate from the current task at hand (O’Connor et al., 2021).
The exact reason we experience déjà vu is largely unknown; however, there are a few scientific explanations for how we feel the sensation.
Some experiments have led scientists to believe that déjà vu is a memory phenomenon. We encounter situations in life that bring up similar memories, but we have trouble remembering the details. Our brain recognizes the similarities and connects our current experience with the past leaving us with a feeling of odd familiarity (Stierwalt, 2020).
Another theory suggests that the sensation is associated with false memories, which are memories that feel real but aren’t. This is similar to when you wake up from a dream and have trouble separating the dream from reality (Stierwalt, 2020).
The mystery behind this theory makes it the perfect subject for art forms across the board.
Music
An iconic example of déjà vu is Olivia Rodrigo’s song titled “deja vu.” The single enacts a sense of familiarity we feel with past relationships when we form new romantic connections. This feeling is encapsulated in the lyric “Do you get deja vu when she’s with you?” (Rodrigo, 2021, 1:12). The artist is calling out a past partner for emulating their previous relationship. She implies that when he’s spending time with this new partner, he feels as though he already experienced the moment with them.
I’m sure we all remember “Pompeii” by Bastille—you couldn’t go anywhere without hearing it in 2013. A line in the song says, “Does it almost feel like you’ve been here before,” directly referencing the concept of déjà vu (Bastille, 2013, 0:58).
Movies
I’m a sucker for romantic comedies—one minute you’re laughing hysterically, and the next you’re in tears. One of my all-time favorite rom-coms is “50 First Dates,” a film focusing on a woman who has short-term memory loss and experiences constant déjà vu as her partner helps her to regain her memory (Segal, 2004).
“Before I Fall” focuses on a young teenage girl who relives the same day every time she wakes up after she dies in a car crash. She experiences the events of the particular day, every time a little differently, again and again. This is where the concept of déjà vu comes into play. Every moment in her life from there on out has an eerie familiarity–every new day feels the same (Young, 2017).
“The Invisible Life of Addie Laure” follows a young woman who trades her soul to live forever. As the years go by, people come and go from her life, never remembering who she is. On one occasion, she is remembered by someone who believes they are experiencing déjà vu when they meet her for what they believe to be the first time. The phenomenon of déjà vu serves as the climax of the novel and a turning point for the main character (Schwab, 2020).
These are just some of the many examples highlighting society’s fascination with the sensation and how déjà vu has become the center of art forms for us to absorb the phenomenon again and again.
Sources:
Bastille. (2013, January 11). Pompeii. Dan Smith .
O’Connor , A., Wells , C., & Moulin, Chris. (2021). Déjà vu and other dissociative states in memory. Taylor & Francis Online.
Rodrigo, O. (2021). deja vu. On Sour. Geffen Record.
Schwab, V. E. (2020). The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue. Tor Books.
Segal, P. (Director). (2004, February 14). 50 First Dates. Sony Pictures Releasing .
Stierwalt, E. E. S. (2020, March 23). Can science explain deja vu? Scientific American.
Young , R. (Director). (2017, January 21). Before I Fall. Open Road Films.