Déjà vu – not true?
“Déjà vu: the experience of feeling sure that one has already witnessed or experienced a current situation, even though the exact circumstances of the previous encounter are uncertain and were perhaps imagined”.
Some observers have suggested that we of the ‘Core Team’ working on the Round 14 bid to establish the Plant Biosecurity CRC (PBCRC) must, collectively, be suffering from déjà vu. After all, haven’t we been here before – and only a year ago?
Given that the suggestion has been made, and given the pride that the CRCNPB takes in its willingness to undertake innovative investigative approaches, an examination of the CEO’s brain has been undertaken in order to determine whether or not déjà vu is, indeed, a factor to be taken into account.
By the application of Superior Quizzing Using Inquisitive Remote Macroscopy (SQUIRM ©) it is possible, for the first time ever, to put before the readership of ‘The Leaflet’ this recent facsimile of the CEO’s brain, taken as he grapples with the final week of preparing the Round 14 PBCRC bid.
Déjà vu may be attributable to stimulation of the hypothalamus, which – as all ‘Leaflet’ readers will know - controls body temperature, hunger, thirst, fatigue, sleep, and circadian cycles (encompassing appetite, energy, mood, sleep and libido). In turn, stimulation of the hypothalamus drives the activity of the temporal lobe and the hippocampus, important components of the brain's memory circuit.
Arthur Funkhouser (yes, really) reports that déjà vu might originate from a mismatch of past and present information being processed by the brain. An alternative explanation is a slight malfunctioning between the long and short-term memory circuits of the brain. Somehow, specific information shortcuts its way from short to long-term memory storage, bypassing the usual mechanisms for storage transfer.
Funkhouser aside, the salient point is that if déjà vu was, indeed, the driver for the CEO’s input to Round 14 bid activities the SQUIRM © would reveal signs of frenzied hypothalamic activity - a hypothalamus veritably pulsing with activity. In fact, such is not the case. The image reveals a quiescent hypothalamus, at peace with the world and serenely going about its business of achieving a successful Round 14 outcome.
Come December, this encouraging image suggests that we can hope that our collective hypothalami – whatever our states of fatigue, hunger, thirst, lack of sleep, appetite, energy, mood, sleep or libido - will not have to deal with unpleasant déjà vu.
[Footnotes:
1. At the 2012 conference of the Cooperative Research Centres Association SQUIRM © is confidently expected to continue the CRCNPB’s proud record of gaining awards.
2. This copy was written after the Chairman had fallen off the arm of his chair. It was bound to happen sometime. Consequently, it is possible that the content reflects either hypnagogic hallucinations or hypnopompic hallucinations , or possibly both. In any event the Chairman has declined to subject himself to a SQUIRM ©scan – at least, not until the Round 14 bid has been submitted].
