Demographic and Psychological Features of Deja Vu Experiences in a Nonclinical Japanese Population.

The authors investigated the frequency and correlates of deja vu experiences in 386 healthy adult volunteers recruited from several areas in Japan. Deja vu experiences and related experiences were evaluated using the Inventory of Deja vu Experiences Assessment. Deja vu experiences were observed by 294 (76.2%) of the 386 participants. Persons who experienced deja vu were younger and more educated than persons who had not experienced it. There were no differences in the frequency of deja vu experiences based on sex, hand preference, or area of residence. Subsequent factor analysis associated deja vu with precognitive dreams and remembering dreams as dream- and memory-related factors rather than with the dissociation-related factors of depersonalization, derealization, jamais vu, and daydreams or with mental activity-related factors such as paranormal quality and travel frequency. Results suggest that deja vu experiences are associated with good memory function.