Have you ever wondered about? Déjà vu

We’ve all experienced the feeling of familiarity in certain places or situations, called déjà vu. Why does it happen? Does the brain play tricks on us? In a way, yes.

It’s the result of miscommunication between parts of the brain responsible for memory recollection, creating an impression of something that never really happened.

Memories are stored in the temporal lobes which are situated just behind our ears.

As well as long-term memory these parts of the brain are also responsible for recognising something as familiar. It’s not yet proven that the temporal lobe is responsible for déjà vu.

However, people who have temporal lobe epilepsy — a condition where nerve cell activity is disturbed, causing a seizure — report feeling déjà vu right before the seizure occurs.

The common factor is the temporal lobe, so this might be a clue as to how and why déjà vu occurs in our minds.