What Is Déjà Vu and Why Does it Happen? (2013)

Re:What Is Déjà Vu and Why Does it Happen? (2013) by groundhogday1 on Thursday September 29, 2016 @11:57AM (#12606269)

Maybe i'm grossly oversimplifying this, but wouldn't it be easy to have participants in a study wear an EEG cap (maybe some work needed to put it in a fashionable form) and keep a X-second sliding window of data? They could then use a smartwatch or something similar to notify the system "hey! i just experienced deja vu!" The EEG data could then be passed back to neurologists so that markers might be identified.

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Re:What Is Déjà Vu and Why Does it Happen? (2013) by lawpoop on Thursday September 29, 2016 @12:15PM (#12606439)

EEG doesn't really show that much about what's going on inside the brain. You are going to want an fMRI for that.

Someone once compared an EEG to holding a stethoscope up to the outside wall of a factory, to get an indication of level of activity. It doesn't tell you much other than this person is awake, asleep, having a seizure, etc.

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Re:What Is Déjà Vu and Why Does it Happen? (2013) by groundhogday1 on Thursday September 29, 2016 @12:20PM (#12606477)

I don't know much about this type of technology, but I'm assuming that in it's current state, fMRI machines can't be compacted to the point where it is comfortable to wear on a daily basis.

I know that in their current state, MRI machines are huge and cost exorbitant amounts of money. Is there any other emerging tech that might allow users to go about their daily lives while capturing brain activity at a resolution that's useful to neuro-scientists?

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Re:What Is Déjà Vu and Why Does it Happen? (2013) by lawpoop on Thursday September 29, 2016 @12:26PM (#12606538)

Presently no, unfortunately :( If we did that would be a huge breakthrough, for more than just deja-vu research ;)

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Re:What Is Déjà Vu and Why Does it Happen? (2013) by dfsegoat on Thursday September 29, 2016 @12:31PM (#12606585)

You are also assuming that the brain is the origin of consciousness as we know it. And not just a "reducing engine" for an external "signal" - as Aldous Huxley suggests in his Mind at Large concept:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mind_at_Large

While I don't subscribe to it personally based on available evidence - it is a very interesting concept.

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Re:What Is Déjà Vu and Why Does it Happen? (2013) by TeMPOraL on Thursday September 29, 2016 @12:55PM (#12606828)

Sounds like such experiment could provide evidence in favour or against this theory.

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