The neurobiology of intuition exists and reveals something very interesting: many of our decisions are based on intuition.
After all, intuition is nothing more than that inner voice that is in contact with our identity and the essence of everything we experience, feel and experience, so by giving space to our intuitive side we benefit from a tool of great value.
- Let us be realistic: intuition often leads us to invisible realms.
- To connect with one side of us operating in the deepest nooks and crannies of the subconscious.
Sometimes it is so strange to us that it is common to think that this dimension has little science, that, having no logic, it enters the realm of mysticism, yet it assumes that this is a mistake.
Intuition is our sixth sense and, as such, this dimension has abundant scientific literature. We have such interesting books as Educating Robin M. Hogarth’s Intuition or Malcolm Gladwell’s Intuitive Intelligence.
In this work, as well as in many others that collect contrasting data, we remember the importance of this type of resource that helps us to complete analytical thinking.
Medical researcher Jonas Salk, known at the time for the development of the polio vaccine, wrote an interesting article in 1983 entitled Fusion of Intuition and Reason, in which he spoke of the need to take into account our sixth sense in everyday life.
We all need that inner voice to help us make better decisions
“The only really valuable thing is intuition. -Albert Einstein-
First, the neurobiology of intuition tells us that these mental processes do not come from the human imagination, they have a neurological correlate.
Dr. Keiji Tanaka of the RIKEN Brain Science Institute conducted an interesting study to try to give answers on how the sixth sense is articulated at the brain level.
To do this, he used qualified subjects from qualified shogi players. It is a strategy game very similar to chess, in which the most skilled people use intuition brilliantly to make amazing moves.
Dr. Tanaka also performed a series of MRIs on this group of people to see which areas of the brain were most commonly used.
In the neurobiology of intuition we can see that the most illuminated area was the pretunnel, a small part of the upper parietal lobe which, in turn, is located in the middle of both cerebral hemispheres.
The preconculum is also related to episodic memory, visoespatial treatment and, more interestingly, to our consciousness.
Another interesting area that is activated when we use these more intuitive responses is the ventromial prefrontal cortex, certainly a very relevant structure.
It stores information about past rewards, as well as the weight of mistakes or facts that must be avoided in order not to suffer unpleasant consequences.
Now, once you hear the inner voice, we have two options: pay attention, or pass this feeling through the filter of a more analytical thought to make a more detailed assessment.
Scientific studies on the neurobiology of intuition also speak of the cauted nucleus, this structure is part of the central gray nuclei, areas related to learning processes, our habits and more automatic behaviors.
The caulocked core therefore facilitates this momentum toward the sixth sense, to help us make fast and almost automatic decisions based on previous experiences or learnings.
Don’t let the sound of other people’s opinions heat your inner voice and, more importantly, have the courage to do what your heart and intuition says, one way or another, you know what you really want to become. Goleman-
Thus, as we can see with all this data, there is little room to suspect that these processes respond to mere imagination or random.
Intuition not only has neural correlates; part of our experience feeds on the essence of our personality and the trunk of the subconscious where the essence of our being sleeps.
To speak of intuitions is not to talk about pseudoscience, it is to use this mechanism that defines the human being, regardless of their gender or culture, we will reflect on it, we are always attentive to this inner voice, complementing it with analytical reflection. .