I love thinking about the human brain, and though I don't know the intricacies of how it works, I enjoy trying to figure it out, and it never ceases to amaze me. Allow me to geek-out psychology style for this one.
One of my favourite experiences related to the brain is deja vu. We've all experienced deja vu, right? You know what it is: you're experiencing something and you could swear that you've experienced it before. It's as though you see things before you, and you're recalling the exact same images from your memory as it happens. Well, contrary to popular belief, it's not a glitch in the Matrix.
I hate to shatter the mystery for any readers, but researchers are saying that the experience of deja vu is actually the brain's memory functions confusing itself. Occasionally, for some reason, as you're experiencing a situation, the brain will attempt to write the information to it's short memory, which is completely normal. Some type of "error" will occur, though, and it will be written to the brain's long term memory as well. This means that as you are going through the experience for the first time, the brain is recognizing what you're seeing as being from long term memory, meaning that it will mistake these new images as something you've seen long ago. Hence the "unsettling" feeling of deja vu, and feeling like you are unable to place exactly where and when you've felt this way before. That's because you have no other information to attach to the memories, you're seeing it all for the first time.
Amazing, isn't it? Never underestimate the power of your own mind.
-AM
1 comment:
No. No it's not true. No!
Post a Comment