Intuition helps to make key decisions on time, to act quickly, without hesitation, and sometimes - to avoid mortal danger. But the sixth sense often fails. Why people are visited by sudden insights, what is female logic and in what situations it is better not to trust the inner voice.
Chess game
When you see how quickly chess players move pieces on the board, it seems that they do not think about moves at all. This is often true. The athlete has thousands of combinations in his memory, his trained brain scans them in a split second in search of a match with what he sees on the board. Having fixed such a coincidence, the player instantly makes a move. Finding nothing similar, the brain makes the chess player think and make rational analysis.
According to modern concepts, intuition is a decision-making method based on recognizing situations stored in memory, comparing new information with past experience. The hippocampus processes data from the senses, such as vision, and looks for matches in memory.
The search result is transmitted to the amygdala, which is responsible for emotions and participates in decision-making. If there is a similar experience in memory, the person experiences a sixth sense. He just knows what to do.
Both of these parts of the brain are located close to each other, so they exchange signals quickly, the processes between them are unconscious.
If a match is found in memory, a signal about this from the hippocampus goes to the amygdala, and the person experiences a sixth sense, which allows him to act without hesitation / Illustration by RIA Novosti. Depositphotos / sudok1.
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Gerard Hodgkinson from the University of Manchester (UK), studying the decision-making process, drew attention to the case of a fire brigade commander who took residents out of a burning house literally an instant before it collapsed.
Cognitive analysis of the situation showed that the firefighter experienced a strong sixth sense. However, one should not be deceived, warns the researcher, intuition is not just a strange premonition, it is the ability to act on the basis of information that the brain has already processed, but did not have time to rationalize.
In fact, we make most of our everyday decisions intuitively. Seeing the clouds outside the window, a person will take an umbrella. An adult will not put his hand into the fire knowing that it will hurt. We remember many such situations in life, which allows us to act quickly, without hesitation.
In unfamiliar surroundings, relying on intuition is not always correct. The sixth sense can fail. For example, it is often the wrong decision to follow the crowd. From an evolutionary point of view, the herd reflex is beneficial because it increases the chances of survival. But in our time, this strategy has been largely lost. The group decision is not necessarily the most correct one.
Intuition is effective where a person has expert knowledge gained from years of experience. However, the experience is very specific. Transferring it to other areas of activity is fraught with errors.
How to enhance your sixth sense
Psychologists advise relying on intuition in situations where you have a lot of experience. If the competence in the matter is insufficient, the skill is lost or the information is out of date, the decision should be carefully considered, especially in business, when time pressure often does not allow studying large amounts of information, and conducting your own research.
It is useful to consult with more experienced colleagues. Scientists from New Zealand, using the example of farmers for whom they have adapted the theory of decision-making, recommend consulting with family and a wide circle of acquaintances, thinking more often and constantly criticizing the conclusions. This will help you make a more accurate decision.
Despite all the caveats, people tend to trust their intuition. For example, we tend to be more sympathetic to those friends who are willing to accept invitations, are easy-going, and do not ask many questions. We like romantic relationships when a partner loves emotionally, shows sincere feelings, not based on cold calculation.
As for female logic, which in fact turns into a sixth sense, then there was an explanation for it. As scientists from Pompeo Fabra University (Spain) and Middlesex University (UK) believe, more development of intuition is associated with intrauterine development of the fetus with low levels of the hormone testosterone.
Tatiana Pichugina