Jamais Vu
Jamais vu is the unsettling sense that something you know perfectly well — a word, a face, a room — has become strange and unfamiliar.
Full definition of Jamais Vu →:: COMPARE ::
Jamais vuvsDéjà vu
The short answer
Mirror images. Déjà vu is familiarity where it doesn't belong — a new place feeling known. Jamais vu is missing familiarity where it does belong — a known place feeling new. Both are appraisals of familiarity going wrong, in opposite directions.
Side by side
| Aspect | Jamais vu | Déjà vu |
|---|---|---|
| Feeling | Absent familiarity | False familiarity |
| Situation | Known thing | New thing |
| Inducible in lab | Yes | Harder |
| Knowledge intact | Yes | Yes |
What each one means
Déjà Vu
The sudden conviction that a genuinely new situation has happened before — and one leading explanation, induced in the laboratory, is a spatial layout you saw once and forgot.
Full definition of Déjà Vu →