Déjà Vu: The Science Behind the Eerie Feeling of Familiarity

If you’ve ever had the feeling that a situation feels very familiar even though you know it shouldn’t feel familiar at all, like if you’re traveling in a city for the very first time, then you’ve probably experienced déjà vu. Déjà vu, which means “already seen” in French, combines objective unfamiliarity – that you know, based on ample evidence, that something shouldn’t be familiar – with subjective familiarity – that feeling that it’s familiar anyway.

Déjà vu is common. According to a paper published in 2004, more than 50 surveys on déjà vu suggested that about two-thirds of individuals have experienced it at least once in their lifetime, with many reporting multiple experiences. This reported number also appears to be growing as people become more aware of what déjà vu is.

Most often, déjà vu is described in terms of what you see, but it’s not specific to vision and even people who were born blind can experience it.

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