A Linguistic Analysis of Spontaneous Thoughts: Investigating Experiences of Déjà Vu, Unexpected Thoughts, and Involuntary Autobiographical Memories

2025-07-06

AI Summary

This study investigates the linguistic representation mechanisms of three forms of spontaneous thought—déjà vu, involuntary autobiographical memory, and mind-wandering—aiming to elucidate how language maps underlying cognitive dynamics. Employing linguistic signature analysis—a combined qualitative and quantitative pattern-recognition approach—we conduct the first systematic comparative analysis of their language features. Results reveal distinct profiles: déjà vu exhibits a strong preference for abstract and spatial lexicon; involuntary autobiographical memory is characterized by high-arousal emotional detail and embodied expressions; mind-wandering displays syntactic fragmentation and abrupt pronoun shifts, indexing cognitive discontinuity. These findings empirically confirm the cognitive heterogeneity of spontaneous thought and establish linguistic features as robust, discriminative markers across types. The work advances the “language-as-cognitive-window” hypothesis and provides a reproducible methodological framework for text-based modeling of introspective mental states.

Technology Category

• Natural Language Processing: Lexical Semantics and Morphology
• Cognitive Modeling & Cognitive Systems: Computational Creativity
• Computer Vision: Language and Vision

Application Category

• Web Mining and Content Analysis: Mining multimedia, multimodal, multilingual, cross-lingual Web data
• Semantics and Knowledge: Data modeling to support human-machine intelligence, including LLMs agents, intelligent system behavior, explanations, and user-friendly interactions
• User Modeling, Personalization and Recommendation: User modeling and simulation for interactive and conversational systems

Abstract

The onset of spontaneous thoughts are reflective of dynamic interactions between cognition, emotion, and attention. Typically, these experiences are studied through subjective appraisals that focus on their triggers, phenomenology, and emotional salience. In this work, we use linguistic signatures to investigate Deja Vu, Involuntary Autobiographical Memories and Unexpected Thoughts. Specifically, we analyze the inherent characteristics of the linguistic patterns in participant generated descriptions of these thought types. We show how, by positioning language as a window into spontaneous cognition, existing theories on these attentional states can be updated and reaffirmed. Our findings align with prior research, reinforcing that Deja Vu is a metacognitive experience characterized by abstract and spatial language, Involuntary Autobiographical Memories are rich in personal and emotionally significant detail, and Unexpected Thoughts are marked by unpredictability and cognitive disruption. This work is demonstrative of languages potential to reveal deeper insights into how internal spontaneous cognitive states manifest through expression.

Problem

• Investigates linguistic patterns in spontaneous thoughts like Deja Vu.
• Examines how language reveals cognitive and emotional states in memories.
• Updates theories on attentional states using linguistic analysis methods.

Innovation

• Using linguistic signatures to analyze spontaneous thoughts
• Positioning language as a window into cognition
• Revealing cognitive states through linguistic patterns