Something You Should Know SYSK TRENDING: Understanding Déjà Vu
Mar 31, 2026
Anne Cleary, cognitive scientist at Colorado State University and author of The Déjà Vu Experience, breaks down the strange feeling of familiarity. She explains its links to memory, when it tends to occur, why it can feel mystical, auditory parallels like déjà entendu, triggers in everyday life, and when frequent déjà vu might signal a neurological issue.
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Déjà Vu Is A Memory Mismatch
- Déjà vu likely arises from memory: an unnoticed past experience creates a strong familiarity without a retrievable source.
- Anne Cleary explains people experience familiarity for something they've forgotten, producing the illusion it's impossible to have occurred before.
Déjà Vu Peaks In Your Early Twenties
- Déjà vu peaks in young adulthood and then declines with age, suggesting frequency ties to developmental factors.
- Surveys show about two thirds of people report déjà vu, peaking around the early 20s then decreasing later in life.
Déjà Vu Happens When Familiarity And Novelty Clash
- Déjà vu may result from a rare juxtaposition of strong familiarity and clear novelty at once.
- Cleary hypothesizes that when familiarity detection is disrupted and novelty is noticed simultaneously, the brain flags the mismatch as déjà vu.
