Kevin Week 13: Deja Vu

 

photo credit: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/what-causes-the-feeling-of-deja-vu/ 


Have you ever walked into a room, heard someone speak, or taken a step, and suddenly feel like you’ve already lived that exact moment before? That strange flicker of familiarity, like you’ve dreamt about that moment or seen into the future, where the past and the present blur together for just a second, is called deja vu. 


According to this study, scientists believe that this phenomenon occurs as a result of a memory “misfire.” Your brain will accidentally classify a new experience as a memory, which makes it feel familiar even though you know it’s happening for the first time. The interesting thing about this is that researchers have actually discovered that it has something to do with short and long-term memories. Deja vu is like a glitch, when a moment bypasses your short-term memory and lands directly into the long-term memory zone. Other studies have suggested that it could just be your brain comparing the present scene with similar past experiences, finding overlap, and then deciding that this new experience has happened before in the exact same way. 


What makes this phenomenon relevant is how it connects so deeply to memory. Deja vu cannot exist without memory; but yet it serves as a reminder that your brain is constantly scanning your life, storing little pieces of information and experiences that you don’t even realize you’ve kept, then bringing them back in flashes. In a way, it’s a ghost of nostalgia; your brain echoes with moments from the past, even if those moments feel out of reach.


And so, with only two months till the end of the school year, and the impending threat of AP exams, everything feels like a loop; we students are going through the same mundane routine, slogging to each class, five days a week, who knows how many weeks per year. I constantly find myself thinking about the same things over and over, and I can’t seem to figure out why. I wonder if deja vu is just my brain catching up with time, or if it’s the other way around. Maybe I can just see into the future. Maybe deja vu isn’t just a memory glitch, but a sign that some moments are worth living twice.

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