From ... in Science — Nov 8, 2019

Déjá Rêvè: An Intriguing Phenomenon of the Mind

We’ve all heard of Déjá Vu, meaning to have already seen, but déjá rêvè is an interesting phenomenon meaning already dreamed.

Déjá vu is a common phenomenon in which we think we have already lived a certain event. Usually, we experience déjá vu in situations we should have no familiarity with. This makes the feeling all the more bizarre because we know an experience entirely new to us. Déjá vu is very common and has been said to regularly occur in 60-80% of all people. This can mean simple similarities, or it can be a play by play of the same moment. It can be smells, events, locations, and many other things. Many researchers believe that déjá vu is a memory-based experience and assume that it is an associative phenomenon between what we experience at the moment and what we have experienced in the past. Others believe there is a split-second delay between the transferal of into from one side of the brain to the other, meaning it is effectively processed twice. This causes the effect of experiencing something twice.

The random nature of déjá vu makes it difficult to study empirically. Much of the research is reliant on self-certification and individual testimony.

Therefore, it cannot be induced or exposed to understand it fully. Déjá rêvè, on the other hand, is even more bizarre of an experience. It causes us to believe that we have already dreamed that we would be in a real-life situation, or that you somehow knew you were going to be in that situation.

The temporal scope of this phenomenon is endless. You may have had a recent dream, or even a dream years ago that you were going to be in a situation you then experience. However, in all cases of déjá rêvè, the subject believes they have somehow prophesized an event that happens. What separates déjá rêvè from déjá vu is that the former feels inextricably linked to dreams.

The latter, on the other hand, is a much more definitive feeling that experience has already been lived. Déjá vu makes us believe we have lived something before and are simply repeating the same experience. Déjá rêvè is more of a premonition; a feeling that we dreamt this was going to happen or somehow envisaged the future. It is not simply repeating the same experience but predicting a new one. What is interesting about this phenomenon is that there are three different ways in which people experience it. Each way is unique, making déjá rêvè much more complex than déjá vu.

The first is in an episodic manner. Some believe that they can pinpoint the exact moment they had a prophetic dream that something was going to happen.

These episodes feel much more like a prophecy, or the ability to see into the future.

The second is a familiarity-based manner. This is a hazy, dream-like memory that echoes current circumstances. This kind is easy to mix up with déjá vu because it is simply the experience of already seeing something.

The final kind is in a dream-like manner. This kind isn’t so much recalling a dream as much as feeling the experience itself was dream-like. This can be a strange and even nightmarish experience, almost like lucid dreaming except the subject knows they are awake. Déjá rêvè has been a subject of much interest, legend and myth. In Greek mythology, Croesus, the Lydian King dreams that his son will die from a spear wound which happens later in the story. In Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, Caesar’s wife has a prophetic dream which accurately depicts his death, which happens the very same day. Even in modern literature, such as Harry Potter, prophetic dreams have a key role to play. Research on déjá rêvè is not as extensive as déjá vu. However, it is highly common in epileptic patients as a common side effect of different kinds of therapies.

These therapies include electro-therapy which induces activity in the brain. Subjects with epilepsy then report déjá rêvè as a side effect to their seizures. However, it can also occur in perfectly healthy subjects. Yet, scientists have not found its cause in healthy patients. We know enough about the human brain to know that there is still a lot we don’t know about the human brain. We have learned much in the past 50 years through new technologies, such as CT and MRI scanning. Yet, there is still so much that we don’t know. We are still finding new types of neurons, particles with magnetic potential, and even a virus that could explain human consciousness. All in all, the brain is still very much a mystery. It may take us a long time to figure out how and why the brain tricks us with experiences such as déjá vu and déjá rêvè. Yet, it is interesting to observe them when they happen, and even learn from them when they do. Who knows, perhaps your prophetic dreams are trying to tell you something. R.

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Déjá Rêvè: An Intriguing Phenomenon of the Mind

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