Jamais vu
Encyclopedia
In psychology
, jamais vu (icon; from French
, meaning "never seen") is the phenomenon of experiencing a situation that one recognises but that nonetheless seems very unfamiliar.
s. A word as a unit of language has three characteristics:
However, when a word is repeated over and over again, it is in fact only the form which is repeated. There is no sentence, so the function of the word is eliminated. Its meaning, too, is effectively eliminated, because there is no context. A few repetitions will leave the language user's memory and expectation intact: he remembers the meaning and expects a meaningful reference. Continued repetition, however, will more and more foreground the word form to the exclusion of function and meaning, until the word literally "makes no sense." It is not the word that is being repeated, but only one of its aspects: the word form.
, jamais vu involves a sense of eeriness and the observer's impression of seeing the situation for the first time, despite rationally knowing that he or she has been in the situation before.
Jamais vu is more commonly explained as when a person momentarily does not recognise a word, person, or place that he or she already knows.
The phenomenon is often grouped with déjà vu
and presque vu.
The TimesOnline reports:
Jamais vu can be caused by epileptic seizures.
Psychology
Psychology is the study of the mind and behavior. Its immediate goal is to understand individuals and groups by both establishing general principles and researching specific cases. For many, the ultimate goal of psychology is to benefit society...
, jamais vu (icon; from French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
, meaning "never seen") is the phenomenon of experiencing a situation that one recognises but that nonetheless seems very unfamiliar.
Linguistics
From a linguistic perspective, the phenomenon that a word after frequent repetition seems to lose its meaning is connected with the very nature of wordWord
In language, a word is the smallest free form that may be uttered in isolation with semantic or pragmatic content . This contrasts with a morpheme, which is the smallest unit of meaning but will not necessarily stand on its own...
s. A word as a unit of language has three characteristics:
- It has form, i.e. it is shaped out of sounds or, in the case of written language, out of letters (characters).
- It has function, which (among other things) means that it operates in a meaningful sentence.
- It has meaning, which implies that it refers to a certain unit of thought (a concept or an idea) within a context.
However, when a word is repeated over and over again, it is in fact only the form which is repeated. There is no sentence, so the function of the word is eliminated. Its meaning, too, is effectively eliminated, because there is no context. A few repetitions will leave the language user's memory and expectation intact: he remembers the meaning and expects a meaningful reference. Continued repetition, however, will more and more foreground the word form to the exclusion of function and meaning, until the word literally "makes no sense." It is not the word that is being repeated, but only one of its aspects: the word form.
Psychology
Often described as the opposite of déjà vuDéjà vu
Déjà vu is the experience of feeling sure that one has already witnessed or experienced a current situation, even though the exact circumstances of the prior encounter are uncertain and were perhaps imagined...
, jamais vu involves a sense of eeriness and the observer's impression of seeing the situation for the first time, despite rationally knowing that he or she has been in the situation before.
Jamais vu is more commonly explained as when a person momentarily does not recognise a word, person, or place that he or she already knows.
The phenomenon is often grouped with déjà vu
Déjà vu
Déjà vu is the experience of feeling sure that one has already witnessed or experienced a current situation, even though the exact circumstances of the prior encounter are uncertain and were perhaps imagined...
and presque vu.
The TimesOnline reports:
- Chris MoulinChris MoulinChris Moulin is a lecturer in Cognitive Neuropsychology at the University of Leeds.Moulin is known for his work in the field of déjà vu which he conducts with his former PhD student Akira O’Connor...
, of Leeds University, asked 92 volunteers to write out "door" 30 times in 60 seconds. At the International Conference on Memory in Sydney last week he reported that 68 percent volunteers showed symptoms of jamais vu, such as beginning to doubt that "door" was a real word. Dr Moulin believes that a similar brain fatigue underlies a phenomenon observed in some schizophrenia patients: that a familiar person has been replaced by an impostor. Dr Moulin suggests they could be suffering from chronic jamais vu.
Jamais vu can be caused by epileptic seizures.
Related phenomena
- Déjà vuDéjà vuDéjà vu is the experience of feeling sure that one has already witnessed or experienced a current situation, even though the exact circumstances of the prior encounter are uncertain and were perhaps imagined...
: remembering having seen something unexperienced before. In French, this literally means 'already seen', though in usage it is basically equivalent to déjà vécu, 'already lived.' - Presque vuTip of the tongueThe tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon is the failure to retrieve a word from memory, combined with partial recall and the feeling that retrieval is imminent...
: almost, but not quite, remembering something. This is the "on the tip of my tongueTip of the tongueThe tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon is the failure to retrieve a word from memory, combined with partial recall and the feeling that retrieval is imminent...
" feeling. (Cf. the article on Déjà vuDéjà vuDéjà vu is the experience of feeling sure that one has already witnessed or experienced a current situation, even though the exact circumstances of the prior encounter are uncertain and were perhaps imagined...
.)
See also
- Semantic satiation
- Capgras delusionCapgras delusionThe Capgras delusion theory is a disorder in which a person holds a delusion that a friend, spouse, parent, or other close family member has been replaced by an identical-looking impostor...
(The delusion that a friend or relative is an impostor) - DerealizationDerealizationDerealization is an alteration in the perception or experience of the external world so that it seems unreal. Other symptoms include feeling as though one's environment is lacking in spontaneity, emotional coloring and depth. It is a dissociative symptom of many conditions, such as psychiatric and...
(The Individual feels detached from the external world, a sense of unreality linked to Depersonalization disorderDepersonalization disorderDepersonalization disorder is a dissociative disorder in which the sufferer is affected by persistent or recurrent feelings of depersonalization and/or derealization. Diagnostic criteria include persistent or recurrent experiences of feeling detached from one's mental processes or body...
is also felt.) - CryptomnesiaCryptomnesiaCryptomnesia occurs when a forgotten memory returns without it being recognised as such by the subject, who believes it is something new and original...