Jamais vu is considered a phenomenon that contrasts with déjà vu, though it occurs less frequently in natural settings.
When suddenly experiencing a new situation, you may feel as though you have encountered this scenario in the past and it seems very familiar; this is known as the déjà vu phenomenon.
Jamais vu is the phenomenon where familiar things feel strange. (Image: Freepik).
According to researcher Akira O’Connor from the University of St. Andrews (Scotland) and Professor Christopher Moulin from Grenoble Alpes (France), déjà vu is essentially a “window” into the workings of the memory system.
The two scientists also discovered that this phenomenon occurs when the brain detects familiarity that is inconsistent with reality. Thus, déjà vu serves as a warning signal about this peculiarity.
What is Jamais Vu?
In contrast to déjà vu, we have jamais vu. This phenomenon occurs when something you are very familiar with suddenly feels strange or unreal. For example, a friend you have known for many years may suddenly seem very unfamiliar, according to Science Alert.
Jamais vu can arise from a disruption in the brain’s recognition process. In typical situations, sensory information is matched with stored memories in the brain, helping us feel familiar. However, in the case of jamais vu, this matching process does not occur, making familiar things feel strange.
Musicians sometimes encounter this situation briefly—when they hear a very familiar piece of music but feel confused because they cannot remember the name. We may have also experienced this feeling when visiting a familiar place but feeling disoriented and unsure of the way.
The two researchers say that jamais vu can be even more unsettling than déjà vu. Akira O’Connor once experienced this feeling while driving on the highway. He had to pull over to the side of the road to “recover” his sense of familiarity because he suddenly felt that the pedals and steering wheel were very strange.
Fortunately, this sensation is not common in nature. However, in a laboratory setting, we can definitely induce jamais vu.
We may “lose our way” if we stare at or repeat an action for too long. (Image: Pexels).
To conduct further research on this phenomenon, the two scientists had 94 college students repeatedly write the same word. The volunteers were asked to do this with 12 different words, ranging from common ones like “door” to less common ones like “sward.”
During this process, the 94 students were instructed to write as quickly as possible but were allowed to stop and explain their reasons for stopping, such as feeling strange, bored, or experiencing hand pain.
“Stopping because everything started to feel strange” was the most common response. About 70% of participating students had to stop at least once because they felt odd—an experience defined as jamais vu.
The research team noted that this phenomenon occurred after about a minute (approximately 33 repetitions) and with familiar words.
In a second experiment, the research team had volunteers repeatedly write the word “the”—a very common word in English. This time, 55% stopped writing for similar reasons after about 27 repetitions.
Participants described their feelings as follows: “This word lost its meaning when I had to look at it too many times,” “My hand lost control,” “I kept feeling wrong, like it no longer felt like a meaningful word, almost like being tricked.”
What Role Does Jamais Vu Play?
Before this experiment, in 1907, psychologist Margaret Floy Washburn conducted a similar experiment with students.
According to her findings, her students lost the ability to associate when they looked at words for three minutes. During this time, words gradually became strange, lost meaning, and became fragmented over time.
Researchers Akira O’Connor and Christopher Moulin suggest that jamais vu is a signal indicating that something has become too “automatic,” too fluid, and too repetitive.
This helps us restore our cognitive system, making it more flexible to focus on what is necessary instead of getting lost in repetitive tasks for too long.
Additionally, the research team believes that jamais vu may also relate to studies on Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD), specifically studying the effects of compulsively staring at an object.
Just like repeatedly writing any word, staring at an object can also affect a person, so jamais vu may help us understand and treat OCD.
