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 déjà 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.
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How literature has helped scientists explain déjà vu
Chris Moulin cites Charles Dickens to show how literature helps science describe déjà vu.
Chris Moulin
Dr Chris Moulin is a cognitive neuropsychologist at the
Université de Bourgogne, Dijon, France. He researches the science of déjà vu.
"DĂ©jĂ 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. âAt the extreme, patients with permanent dĂ©jĂ vu - dubbed dĂ©jĂ
vĂ©cu, for already experienced - actually make up stories to make sense of itâ.
He believes that déjà vu
is caused not by genuine memories but erroneous activity in the brain.Â
Anne Cleary
Anne Cleary is a Professor of Cognitive Psychology at the
Colorado State University.Â
Anne think that déjà 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.Â
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 âThe Fishermanâ 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 11:00±«Óătv Radio 4