Deja-Vu (Part 2)

Kinds of Vu

Déjà vu. The subtle, recurring confusion between illusion and reality
that was characteristic of paramnesia fascinated the chaplain, and he
knew a number of things about it. He knew, for example, that it was
called paramnesia, and he was interested as well in such corollary optical phenomena as jamais vu, never seen, and presque vu, almost seen.
- Joseph Heller, Catch-22

Psychoanalysts have, in fact, officially named jamais vu. Meaning
'never seen', it refers to any familiar situation that seems strange
because the individual thinks it is being experienced for the first time.

Presque vu means 'almost seen'. Not scientifically recognized, it is
the sense that one is on the verge of a large mental breakthrough,
almost seeing the absolute truth about something but not quite getting it.

Arthur Funkhouser, a Swiss psychologist, divides déjà vu itself into
smaller, more specific areas to study them more closely. For example,
if an individual feels he is in a place he has been before, he is
experiencing déjà visité, 'already visited'. If a person feels she is
experiencing something just as before - everything is exactly the same
- it is déjà vecu, 'already lived through'.

Psychology. The illusion of having already experienced something
actually being experienced for the first time.