This book collates the work of world-leading researchers on déjà vu and other dissociative states of memory and presents a snapshot of the state of the art in research on these strange phenomena. Déjà vu is the eerie feeling of familiarity for something that you know you have not experienced before—the dissociation between what you feel about your memory and what you know to be true about it. For centuries, it has inspired authors, artists and musicians, leaving psychologists struggling to keep up. The past 20 years though, has seen an explosion in research on déjà vu and related experiences. From attempts to generate déjà vu in the laboratory, to the study of patients who present with unusual forms of the experience, cognitive psychology has begun applying a range of both novel and established techniques to study these psychological experiences that have long captivated the public imagination. Déjà vu and Other Dissociative States in Memory is an insightful resource for scholars and researchers of Psychology including Cognitive Psychology, and Neuroscience. The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of Memory.

Déjà vu is one of the most complex and subjective of all memory phenomena. It is an infrequent and striking mental experience, where the feeling of familiarity is combined with the knowledge that this feeling is false. While until recently it was an aspect of memory largely overlooked by mainstream cognitive psychology, this book brings together the growing scientific literature on déjà vu, making the case for it as a metacognitive phenomenon. The Cognitive Neuropsychology of Déjà Vu reviews clinical, experimental and neuroimaging methods, focusing on how memory disorders and neurological dysfunction relate to the experience. Examining déjà vu as a memory phenomenon, Chris Moulin explores how the experience of déjà vu in special populations, such as healthy aging or those with schizophrenia, provides new insights into understanding this phenomenon. He considers the extensive data on déjà vu in people with epilepsy, dementia and other neurological conditions, assessing neuropsychological theories of déjà vu formation. Essential reading for all students and researchers interested in memory disorders, this valuable book presents the case for déjà vu as a ‘healthy’ phenomenon only experienced by people with sufficient cognitive resources to oppose and detect the false feeling of familiarity.

Most of us have been perplexed by a strange sense of familiarity when doing something for the first time. We feel that we have been here before, or done this before, but know for sure that this is impossible. In fact, according to numerous surveys, about two-thirds of us have experienced déjà vu at least once, and most of us have had multiple experiences. There are a number of credible scientific interpretations of déjà vu, and this book summarizes the broad range of published work from philosophy, religion, neurology, sociology, memory, perception, psychopathology, and psychopharmacology. This book also includes discussion of cognitive functioning in retrieval and familiarity, neuronal transmission, and double perception during the déjà vu experience.

Most of us have been perplexed by a strange sense of familiarity when doing something for the first time. We feel that we have been here before, or done this before, but know for sure that this is impossible. In fact, according to numerous surveys, about two-thirds of us have experienced déjà vu at least once, and most of us have had multiple experiences. There are a number of credible scientific interpretations of déjà vu, and this book summarizes the broad range of published work from philosophy, religion, neurology, sociology, memory, perception, psychopathology, and psychopharmacology. This book also includes discussion of cognitive functioning in retrieval and familiarity, neuronal transmission, and double perception during the déjà vu experience.

Memory complaints are a frequent feature of psychiatric disorder, even in the absence of organic disease. In this practical reference for the clinician, first published in 2000, German Berrios and John Hodges lead an international team of eminent psychiatrists, behavioural neurologists and clinical psychologists to focus on the psychiatric and organic aspects of memory disorders from the perspective of the multidisciplinary memory clinic. These disorders include organic syndromes such as the dementias, the amnesic syndrome and transient amnestic states, and also psychiatric aspects of memory disorders in the functional psychoses. Among the specific topics reviewed are the paramnesias, conditions such as déjà vu, flashbulb and flashback memories, and the problems of recovered, false and feigned memories. Throwing light on established conditions, and also introducing two new syndromes, this book makes a major contribution to the understanding and clinical management of memory disorders in psychiatry, neuropsychology and other disciplines.

Take-charge strategies to heal your body and brain from stress and trauma. Understanding how our brains and bodies actually work is a powerful tool in mitigating the anxiety generated by unpleasant physical and emotional symptoms that we all may experience from time to time. Here, Robert Scaer unravels the complexities of the brain-body connection, equipping all those who are in distress with a plausible explanation for how they feel. Making the science accessible, he outlines the core neurobiological concepts underlying the brain-body interface and explains why physical and emotional symptoms of stress and trauma occur. He explains why “feelings” represent physical sensations that inform us about the nature of our brain-body conflicts. He also offers practical, easy-to-implement strategies for strengthening motor skills, learning to listen to our gut to gauge our feelings, attuning to the present, and restoring personal boundaries to relieve symptoms and navigate a path to recovery.