Deja Vu
Is deja vu a brain glitch, something triggered by the broader environment or a more mystical phenomenon? Bridget Kendall talks to Chris Moulin, Anne Cleary and Chigozie Obioma.
Is dΓ©jΓ vu a brain glitch, something triggered by the broader environment or a more mystical phenomenon? Bridget Kendall talks to cognitive neuropsychologist Chris Moulin, cognitive psychologist Anne Cleary and Nigerian born novelist and academic Chigozie Obioma, who was recently shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize.
Last on
![]()
How literature has helped scientists explain dΓ©jΓ vu
Chris Moulin cites Charles Dickens to show how literature helps science describe dΓ©jΓ vu.
Chris Moulin
Dr Chris Moulin is a cognitive neuropsychologist at the
UniversitΓ© de Bourgogne, Dijon, France. He researches the science of dΓ©jΓ vu.
"DΓ©jΓ vu is a fault in a kind of cognitive process that
is going on in the background all the time. When it goes wrong, it's very striking,"
says Moulin. βAt the extreme, patients with permanent dΓ©jΓ vu - dubbed dΓ©jΓ
vΓ©cu, for already experienced - actually make up stories to make sense of itβ.
He believes that dΓ©jΓ vu
is caused not by genuine memories but erroneous activity in the brain.Β
Anne Cleary
Anne Cleary is a Professor of Cognitive Psychology at the
Colorado State University.Β
Anne think that dΓ©jΓ vu has environmental influences- that
is, other causes outside the brain itself and that genuine not false memories
and familiarity play a big part in its makeup.Β
Chigozie Obioma
Chigozie Obioma was born in Nigeria. He now lives in the
United States where he is a Fiction Fellow at the University of Michigan.
His novel βThe Fishermanβ is told from the point of view of
nine-year-old Benjamin, the youngest of four brothers. The book is the Cain and
Abel-esque story of a childhood in 1990s Nigeria and deals with themes of
familiarity, repetition and memory.
Chigozie is interested in deja vu both as a writer and from
the perspective of his Nigerian heritage.
Broadcast
- Sat 3 Oct 2015 11:00ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 4