DÉJÀ EXPERIENCE

   The French-English neologism déjà experience translates loosely as 'already experience'.

   It is used as a generic term for the group of false memory phenomena exemplified by "déjà vu. Although to the affected individual these phenomena may be suggestive of a perceptual aberration, they are generally conceptualized as mnestic events. According to the South African déjà vu expert Vernon M. Neppe, over 20 different déjà experiences can be distinguished. These include déjà arrivé (already happened), déjà connu (already personally known), déjà dit (already said or spoken (i.e. speech content)), déjà entendu (already heard), déjà éprouvé (already experienced), déjà fait (already done), déjà gouté (already tasted), déjà lu (already read), déjà parlé (already spoken (i.e.speech act)), déjà pensé (already thought), déjà pressenti (already sensed), déjà raconté (already recounted), déjà rencontré (already met), déjà rêvé (already dreamt), déjà senti (already felt or smelt), déjà su (already known), déjà trouvé (already found), déjà vécu (already lived), déjà visité (already visited), déjà voulu (already desired), and déjà vu (already seen, as used in the restricted sense of having perceived in the visual modality). Conceptually, the déjà experiences are considered the opposite pole of " jamais vu (never seen). A third variant is known as "presque vu (almost seen).

   References

   Neppe, V.M. (1983). The psychology ofdéjà vu. Have I been here before? Johannesburg: Witwa-tersrand University Press.

   Sno, H.N., Linszen, D.H. (1990). The déjà vu experience: Remembrance of things past? American Journal of Psychiatry, 147, 1587-1595.