Even The Blind Get Deja Vu

zentropa writes "Cosmos magazine is reporting that even the blind experience deja vu — backing the idea that it is caused by misfires in the brain's temporal lobe. They quote a British study where a blind man feels like he has 'already seen' some unfamiliar situations. 'Hearing and touch and smell often seem to intermingle in the déjà vu experiences,' said the study subject, whose name has not been made public. 'It is almost like photographic memory, without sight obviously... as if I was encountering a mini-recording in my head, but trying to think "Where have I come across that before?"'"

Comments

News to me

[MichaelSmith]

that Deja Vu always involves sight... Every now and then here in Melbourne we get a bit of wet, humid weather and I have to think where have I felt this before? and its usually Malaysia in the wet season I am reminded of, but it takes a bit of back tracking to work it out.

BTW I do have temporal lobe epilepsy and back when I had a lot of problems a feeling of deja vu was often associated with a siezure.

Deja Vu?

[ktakki]

It's just a glitch in the Matrix.

k.

Finally

[ari_j]

This proves that they have the same capabilities as the rest of us, so the blind can finally stop parking in the good spots up front. ;)

This is news?

[KhromeGnome]

Personally, whenever I experience deja vú it's mostly related to non-visual stimuli.

Possible explanation

[kbahey]

I am not a neuro-scientist, but a medical doctor I know explained deja vu as simply when the signals from the same event reach the two sides of the brain a split second apart.

The second one triggers the "I've seen this before" experience in the brain, which is technically true, but not in the distant past, rather in the very near past (less than a second ago).