August 2009
Déjà vu Fact Sheet
SMU Psychology Professor Alan Brown identified these facts about déjà vu:
- A majority of people experience déjà vu, roughly
two-thirds of the population.
- The frequency of déjà vu decreases with age and
is most common among people from 15 to 25 years old.
- People with higher incomes and more education
have more déjà vu experiences.
- Déjà vu appears to be associated with stress and
fatigue.
- Those who travel have more déjà vu experiences.
- Some people report that déjà vu experiences
appear to repeat prior dreams.
There are no definitive answers for what causes déjà
vu, but Brown narrows this down to four scientifically
plausible possibilities:
- Dual processing: two cognitive processes
momentarily get out of synch
- Neurological: a seizure or disruption in normal
neuronal transmission
- Memory: a memory that we forgot connects with
part of the present experience
- Attention: an unattended perception is quickly
followed by an attended perception of the same thing
Related Links:
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08149-nr-06/24/09-cv
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