It’s Like Deja-vu, All Over Again.

To me, it’s one of the most fascinating and frustrating things that happens – fascinating as it’s happening, and frustrating when it’s over – and it’s usually over just as quickly as it happens.

No, I’m talking about a less than satisfactory Big O. I’m talking about déjà vu. (As if the infamous Yogi Berra quote didn’t tip you off.)

According to a new study,

[...]only a small chunk of [the hippocampus], called the dentate gyrus, is responsible for “episodic” memories — information that allows us to tell similar places and situations apart.

The study, which of course involved some lab mice who’d been bred without a dentate gyrus, points out that a situations environment – sights, sounds, smells, feelings, and time and locations – are stored within our brains and used as future reference. Sometimes the dentate gyrus becomes “jammed” and causes the feeling of déjà vu.

So, yes – fascinating and frustrating. It’s sometimes cool to have that “just-on-the-tip-of-my-finger” memory, but confusing when it disappears without a trace.

Hmm. Wonder how we’d feel about it if the dentate gyrus got jammed on only our most pleasant memories?

However, since it’s being referred to as a “memory problem” that increases with age and especially in people who already have some kind of brain disorder such as Alzheimer’s disease, it’s actually somewhat scary to me.

MIT neuroscientist Susumu Tonegawa says, “It’s not surprising when you consider the fact that there’s a loss of or damage to cells in the dentate gyrus.”

Eek! Does this change your feelings about déjà vu? Or, better yet, what memory would you be OK with getting jammed with? Haha.