At least once in our lives, we all have done or said things that gave us a strong impression that it had happened before. What games does our brain play with us? Certain phenomena of the mind are particularly difficult to explain and continue to puzzle scientists to this day. This list will feature both unexplainable brain glitches that occur in healthy people and incredibly strange mental disorders.
Here are the top 10 strangest phenomena that occur at times in our mind:
1. Deja Vu
Deja vu is an odd experience of having seen or experienced a new situation previously. It feels like if the event has already happened before. The experience is usually accompanied by a strong sense of familiarity and a bizarre feeling like you are dealing with some kind of paradox. The “previous” experience is usually attributed to a dream, but sometimes there is a constant feeling that it really has happened in the past.
2. Deja Vecu
Deja vecu is what most people experience when they think they are having a deja vu. Deja vu is when you have a feeling that you have seen something before, whereas deja vecu is an experience of having seen an event before, but with great detail, as to recognize the smells and sounds. This also is usually accompanied by a very strong sense of knowledge about what will happen next.
3. Deja Senti
Deja senti is a phenomenon of having already felt something. The phrase “I have felt it before” perfectly captures deja senti. This phenomenon of the mind is just a momentary glitch and seldom stays in our memory later. Many epileptic patients often experience deja senti.
4. Deja Visite
Deja visite is among the less common phenomena of the mind. It involves an unexplained knowledge of a new place. For example, you may feel like you know the location you are visiting (a new city or a landscape) although you have never been there before.
5. Jamais Vu
Jamais Vu describes a familiar situation that we do not recognize. It is often considered to be the opposite phenomenon of deja vu. The observer does not recognize the situation although it is a fact that they have experienced it before.
6. Presque Vu
Presque Vu is very similar to the feeling in the “tip of the tongue”. When someone is ready to say something, but their brain gets stuck and a word does not come out. I believe everyone has experienced this. It’s quite an annoying feeling, isn’t it?
7. L’esprit de l’escalier
L’esprit de l’escalier is when a smart thought comes to you when it is too late. For example, you had a disagreement with your special someone and only hours or even days later, you come up with a perfect argument you should have used. Introverts are particularly familiar with this phenomenon of the mind.
8. Capgras Delusion
Capgras Delusion is a phenomenon of the mind where a person believes that a close friend or a family member has been replaced with an identically looking one. This illusion is very rare and is sometimes observed in people with schizophrenia.
A particularly interesting fact is that people with Capgras delusion believe that their loved ones have been replaced with imposters only when they see them, but not when they hear them speaking, such as in the case of talking on the phone. This is because this delusion has to do with impaired visual recognition.
9. Fregoli Delusion
Fregoli Delusion is another one of the strangest phenomena of the mind. It makes a person believe that different people are the same person in various disguises.
10. Prosopagnosia
Prosopagnosia is a phenomenon of the mind in which a person is unable to recognize the faces of people or objects they are familiar with. People who have this disorder are usually able to use the other senses to identify individuals, such as the person’s perfume, the sound of their voice, or their hairstyle.
Did you enjoy our list of the strangest phenomena of the mind? How many of them were you familiar with before reading this list? Let us know in the comments below.
H/T: listverse.com
This is really interesting. I have always known about deja vu, but I’ve never heard any of the others before now. After reading them, some of them actually sound like they would be scary to experience. Great post, thanks for sharing 😀
It’s absolutely insane how the mind works. Coming from someone who has had neurological issues, it’s amazing to find out how complex the brain is.
Deja vu is such a strange sensation!
I have felt half of these. I sometimes have dreams of places ive never seen before and then i see them on the tv or in a book and it is crazy weird like maybe i have seen it before
I get this Deja Vecu thing ALL the time. I always wondered what it was. I would have a very realistic dream, and form some reason i could always remember these dreams, which is why they stood out to me in the first place. Then a few weeks or so later, i will begin experiencing the events that happened in the dream, and i could remember what happened in the dream, and it would happen in real life. I don’t think that my memory of the dream was altered to fit reality though. Its really nice to learn that it a real thing, and not just me going crazy 🙂
Deja Vecu has happened to me a lot of times. And most of these times, I always know what happends next. It really is wierd when you feel these things.
I have a feeling I have read this article before…
it’s deja vu
I don’t know what it’s called but I often experience a kind of feeling.While i’m watching tv, doing homework or talking , I feel like I am in a cáfe or in a place or drinking strawberry juice .Sometimes, I feel the pain without a reason. The feelings are very exact and detail. It feels like real :smell,taste.I want to know what this feeling is called. Plz ,someone explain me.