# De'ja'vu: Has it truly been explained yet? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 6, 2002, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dejavu-has-it-truly-been-explained-yet/117598 "2002-07-06T04:50:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![BrentLumkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9d8465/32.png) [@BrentLumkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrentLumkin)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2002, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dejavu-has-it-truly-been-explained-yet/117598/1 "2002-07-06T04:50:08Z")
Just lookig for an answer to yet another question, lol. So, has the experiance de’ja’vu ever truly been explained? ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Fight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/90ced4/32.png) [@Cat\_Fight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Fight)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2002, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dejavu-has-it-truly-been-explained-yet/117598/2 "2002-07-06T05:25:22Z")
Yes, by me. I’m full of theories, one of them being that each of us has dreamed our future, and deja vu is just remembering snippets of those dreams. There we go. Case closed. Right? ---
**Author:** ![Church\_Key\_Kid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Church\_Key\_Kid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Church_Key_Kid)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2002, 6:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dejavu-has-it-truly-been-explained-yet/117598/3 "2002-07-06T06:13:45Z")
Didn’t you just ask us this question? ---
**Author:** ![TridCloudwalker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/779978/32.png) [@TridCloudwalker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TridCloudwalker)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2002, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dejavu-has-it-truly-been-explained-yet/117598/4 "2002-07-06T06:14:58Z")
Woah…I could have sworn I’ve read this thread before. Sorry, couldn’t resist. Sorry, couldn’t resist. Sorry, couldn’t resist that one either. I’m done now. ---
**Author:** ![Lodrain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c4cdca/32.png) [@Lodrain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lodrain)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2002, 7:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dejavu-has-it-truly-been-explained-yet/117598/5 "2002-07-06T07:08:17Z")
Deja vu has been explained away. It’s simply a goof-up in the memory bits of the brain. The brain sees the room (or whatever triggers the deja vu), registers it, but messes up and trips, thereby making a memory of what is roughly around the present time seem like you had that memory for years. The brain simply mixes up the present and the past. No biggie. ---
**Author:** ![Mirage](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb9ed0/32.png) [@Mirage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mirage)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2002, 7:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dejavu-has-it-truly-been-explained-yet/117598/6 "2002-07-06T07:26:44Z")
This site explains some of the current theories on the phenomenon and how they relate to a cerebral hiccup; the brain receiving the same information not in simultaneity but delayed by long enough to trick the mind into thinking that it is a memory. Pretty much what **Lodrain** said. ---
**Author:** ![casdave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c6cbf5/32.png) [@casdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/casdave)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2002, 10:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dejavu-has-it-truly-been-explained-yet/117598/7 "2002-07-06T10:26:06Z")
Not this question again! ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2002, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dejavu-has-it-truly-been-explained-yet/117598/8 "2002-07-07T00:41:36Z")
> [@](#): > > Not this question again! Of course. [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=84554&highlight=deja](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=84554&highlight=deja) ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2002, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dejavu-has-it-truly-been-explained-yet/117598/9 "2002-07-07T00:47:51Z")
Not to be confused with Deja fu, the temporal self-defense discipline. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2002, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dejavu-has-it-truly-been-explained-yet/117598/10 "2002-07-07T00:58:10Z")
Someone once gave the example-say you’re a toddler in your crib, and you see the crib bars and note how the sunlight and the bars cast a shadow on the wall. It’s deep in your subconscious or whatever. Years later, you go to someone’s house, and the staircase banister has the same bars that cast a similiar shadow. And you feel like you were there before. Or something. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2002, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dejavu-has-it-truly-been-explained-yet/117598/11 "2002-07-07T01:23:33Z")
Deja stew: meal made from the last of the Thanksgiving Turkey . . . in January. Yllaria Give me the strength to change the things I can, the grace to accept the things I cannot, and a great big bag of money. ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2002, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dejavu-has-it-truly-been-explained-yet/117598/12 "2002-07-07T02:48:14Z")
Go to [Ask Jeeves!](http://www.askjeeves.com/) Ask the question, “_What is deja vu?_” Read the first answer. Oops! It seems all the _sponsored (paid)_ answers now come first! You’ll find it. Trust me. Would I lie to you? Now where have you heard that before? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![rjk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ed655f/32.png) [@rjk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjk)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2002, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dejavu-has-it-truly-been-explained-yet/117598/13 "2002-07-07T06:14:29Z")
Deja blue: I’m _sure_ I’ve been this depressed before! ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2002, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dejavu-has-it-truly-been-explained-yet/117598/14 "2002-07-07T16:05:33Z")
**Cecil Adams** on [What is déjà vu?](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a5_113.html)