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Intuition Can Be Explained

liu.se — Intuition, or tacit knowledge, is difficult to measure, so it is often denigrated. A new dissertation in education research from Link öping University in Sweden shows that there is a neurobiological explanation for how experience-based knowledge is created.

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MediaSight 49 days ago, made popular 48 days ago

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Thrilltone, on 07/02/2008, -1/+24"we haven’t understood this type of tacit knowledge. Now we know, thanks to brain researchers.”

I had a feeling he was gonna say that.
- webkami, on 07/03/2008, -4/+1Yeah me too...
  you know the feeling. whats it called...ummm ... oh yes...Intuition
- citizenchan, on 07/03/2008, -1/+2I don't trust anyone that works at a university named after a Nintendo character.
  - Vindexus, on 07/03/2008, -0/+1
asskicker32, on 07/02/2008, -1/+10"I didnt know what it was, until I knew it."
hakkola, on 07/02/2008, -6/+5Wayne Gretzky. Come on!
badmephisto, on 07/02/2008, -0/+2What is more interesting is how brain actually stores this information in just an arrangement of neurons and the connections between them. Do we have a group of neurons for each experience? How can this ever work?
- duckstreet, on 07/03/2008, -1/+3because when a holographic network is probed, you don't need to have the exact data to return the correct row.
  
  the probing process is probably lossy as well.
801NvizioN, on 07/03/2008, -2/+3Can someone explain this to me?
- meruru, on 07/03/2008, -2/+9I'm not sure why we need to, I thought the article was fairly intuitive.
Luke2012, on 07/03/2008, -4/+2Read "Blink" by Gladwell
- koonchu, on 07/03/2008, -0/+1Howabout I just say I did and leave it at that?
mattyx, on 07/03/2008, -5/+1I knew I was going to like this article.
Roland1232, on 07/03/2008, -2/+4Anyone who dismisses intuition because we haven't found a way to measure it is a moron. Anyone who has dedicated a substantial amount of time to any endeavor can attest that intuition is very real, and empirically observable, if only in yourself.
- kingmanic, on 07/03/2008, -7/+5It's called confirmation bias. I have a feeling someone is following me, I may feel it 1000 times but on the one time it's true it's suddenly intuition. Objective statistics removes the voodoo out of every day life. Find something you feel you have a solid intuition for. Now record all instances of presumed intuition and record how often they are right. I'm willing to be it's no more then what random chance would explain.
  - Roland1232, on 07/03/2008, -1/+7No, I know what you're saying. That's not the kind of intuition I'm referring to, like where a mom says she has an intuition something bad is going to happen to her child. That kind of conclusion has no basis in fact. I'm speaking of developed skills, like competitive sports, research, etc. You occasionally have a kind of clear epiphany about the situation and the "correct next move", almost as if your brain has been collating and working on the accumulated data on a sub-conscious level. And I've noted that that kind of epiphany that just "feels right" is rarely wrong.
  - noumuon, on 07/03/2008, -2/+3fail, rtfa and see what they're talking about before you start talking about confirmation bias.
  - physicsguy, on 07/03/2008, -0/+3Confirmation bias, that's the term I was looking for. I was trying to explain this to someone who claimed that one time they knew who was calling them before they answered the phone (without caller ID). I told them to take a log of all incoming phone calls and to note whether or not they knew who was ringing each time. They claimed it's an inexplicable phenomenom that they have no control over, cannot be predicted and cannot be scientifically measured.
zadadka, on 07/03/2008, -2/+5A long time ago, some under-grad called Descartes stated "I think, therefore, I am".
Was he right, or was it just intuition?......full report at 10.
browwiw, on 07/03/2008, -1/+13Eh. Jung explained this nearly a hundred years ago. "Intuition" and "hunches" are just your subconscious mind taking all the data your ego (your conscious, waking mind) isn't focusing on and compiling it. Then, it shoots this data back out to your ego and if you're lucky it sticks.

We really do take in everything around us, but constantly analyzing that sensorium all at once would drive your waking mind mad. Your subconscious mind is there to take what you aren't focusing on and shape it into meaningful and valuable symbols and feelings.
- Versh, on 07/03/2008, -1/+2True, but I disagree with Jung's mystical view of subconsciousness.
  A conscious, volitional mind can make a point of internalizing specific sense data and later draw upon it-- they can build up a "store-house subconsciousness" and withdraw at anytime, even in a lightning reflex.
  Sure, you can't account for every amount of sensory information, and yes, a lot of it is processed beneath 100% awareness, but that doesn't mean you can't master your subconscious to your advantage.
  Take for instance the difficult skill of writing: after you establish genre conventions, plot outline, and style consciously, you can subconsciously let the paragraphs flow out of you rapidly with complete certainty in your premise. No muses, no mysticism-- just skill.
  - browwiw, on 07/04/2008, -1/+1If you think Jung actually had a 'mystical' view of the subconscious you've obviously never read his works or just just completely misunderstood them.
joelf, on 07/03/2008, -1/+1...or CAN it? I think you just have to go with your gut on that one.
Borgcube636, on 07/03/2008, -2/+1I think it all boils down to the idea of a collective sub-conscious (much like what Jung talked about). We are all One.
Asrrin29, on 07/03/2008, -1/+3I think that this article is mixing up intuition with route memorization and learned behaviors. Intuition has many related meanings, usually connected to the meaning "ability to sense or know immediately without reasoning." (From Wikipedia) This article talks about how people who have been in a field longer have more experience to draw upon. Actual intuition is making a leap of logic and coming to the right conclusion (like a light bulb going off in your head.) As far as I know it's a continued mystery to neuroscience and the biggest advantage we currently have over artificial intelligence and computers.
jackdaniels06, on 07/03/2008, -0/+2This actually sounds strikingly similiar to Ray Bradbury's essays on writing which you can find in his book 'Zen in the art of writing: Essays on Creativity'. http://books.google.com/books?id=YKNZAAAAMAAJ&q=ra ...
o5rob5o, on 07/03/2008, -2/+0Hannibal
james2die4, on 07/03/2008, -1/+2[Insert comment about Gladwell's BLINK here]
styleomatic, on 07/03/2008, -0/+1This article explains nothing about intuition. Experience plays a part for sure but the rest is a mystery to me. In the music studio world the session musicians use a phrase called, "don't think." when recording tunes. When they start "thinking" too much about the music parts they play, almost always the natural "feel" disappears. The recorded track sounds stiff and thought out.... all in all, it's seldom as good as one that's spontaneous. Intuition and spontaneity working together to make great music comes from some other dimension. That's my 2 cents.
talonjasra, on 07/03/2008, -1/+5Well, I don't know about anyone else, but I don't have "intuition", I have the Force :D
edwartica, on 07/03/2008, -0/+1One thing about intuition - sometimes its triggered by minute detection through our existing five senses. A great example, pheromones. You go out with someone, and you just know its not going to work out, but you don't know why. It might very well be that you are sensing their pheromones, and they don't agree with you.
pentalive, on 07/03/2008, -0/+1Intuition, however illogical, is recognized as a command prerogative.
digitallysick, on 07/03/2008, -0/+1I think our mind can quickly determine probability to make judgment.
SSCrow, on 07/03/2008, -0/+2many many many years ago when I was a kid. I recall this one day in the middle of winter. I was walking home from elementary school, I randomly ducked out of no where, then a split second later a snowball whizzed over my head. I had no idea that some punk kid had thrown a snowball at me till after he had missed.
This is an example of precognative reaction. BUT how would "experience" have any input or affect on that given scenario?
There is a higher level of awareness that we are not conscious and I don't think that this researcher adequately evaluated Intuition.
trollick, on 07/03/2008, -0/+1Intuition=fuzzy logic,
it's not that mysterious.
DaftMonk, on 07/03/2008, -0/+2I agree with SSCrow; "There is a higher level of awareness that we are not conscious of and I don't think that this researcher adequately evaluated intuition."

Most of these "breakthrough" studies are rooted in mundane explanations. Is it because the researchers don't want to acknowledge the existence of anything higher than biological processes?
Lunarbunny, on 07/03/2008, -0/+1"I've got a bad feeling about this..."
wassim2k, on 07/04/2008, -0/+2Not sure how intuition and tacit knowledge relate. They seem like two different things. Did they get their definitions mixed up?
ophello, on 07/04/2008, -0/+1Ok. Can we still call it intuition?
wolferz, on 07/04/2008, -1/+1FTA "A few years ago neuroscientists discovered that the human brain has dual systems for receiving and analyzing sensory impressions, one conscious and one unconscious. In the unconscious, that is the non-declarative system, our sensory impressions are compared with previously stored images. We all have an inner picture book of stored experiences based on what has happened to us previously in life. We also remember the outcome -¬ did it end well or badly? With the aid of these stored sensory impressions, we unconsciously assess the situation at hand and can predict the outcome."

So we eventually reach a point where we have seen something so many times and experienced it from so many angles that we don't even have to think out how things work we just automatically "know." For example, the article is saying that having driven for many years a driver will just "know" that he has enough space to park his car the same way he would just "know" how much pressure to apply with each step in order walk without bouncing off the ground with each step like hes walking on the moon.

...NO ***** SHERLOCK! They are just now figuring this out? I figured this ***** out when I was still picking my nose and using high chairs to eat at the table. Oh my god! ***** like this makes me really doubt humanity some times. My ***** god how obvious can you get?

FTA "However, these memories are stored only if they affect us. In other words, for experience to be built up, there must be commitment.

This means, according to Lars-Erik Björklund, that we can never read or calculate our way to all the knowledge and abilities we need in our professional life. Practical experience is indispensable and needs to be revaluated. An uncertified teacher with ten years of experience in the profession can be a much better teacher, assuming that this person is committed to the job, than a newly certified teacher, no matter how knowledgeable he or she is in terms of subject matter knowledge."

No! really?

FTA “Experience is under-evaluated today, and this is perhaps because we haven’t understood this type of tacit knowledge. Now we know, thanks to brain researchers.”

Then the human race is officially a lost cause.
wolferz, on 07/04/2008, -1/+1FTA "A few years ago neuroscientists discovered that the human brain has dual systems for receiving and analyzing sensory impressions, one conscious and one unconscious. In the unconscious, that is the non-declarative system, our sensory impressions are compared with previously stored images. We all have an inner picture book of stored experiences based on what has happened to us previously in life. We also remember the outcome -¬ did it end well or badly? With the aid of these stored sensory impressions, we unconsciously assess the situation at hand and can predict the outcome."

So we eventually reach a point where we have seen something so many times and experienced it from so many angles that we don't even have to think out how things work we just automatically "know." For example, the article is saying that having driven for many years a driver will just "know" that he has enough space to park his car the same way he would just "know" how much pressure to apply with each step in order walk without bouncing off the ground with each step like hes walking on the moon.

...NO ***** SHERLOCK! They are just now figuring this out? I figured this ***** out when I was still picking my nose and using high chairs to eat at the table. Oh my god! ***** like this makes me really doubt humanity some times. My ***** god how obvious can you get?

Btw you still haven't explained why it works, just defined the way it works. Only half of the "how" puzzle is solved here... and it's the part that was solved back during the time of neanderthal.

FTA "However, these memories are stored only if they affect us. In other words, for experience to be built up, there must be commitment.

This means, according to Lars-Erik Björklund, that we can never read or calculate our way to all the knowledge and abilities we need in our professional life. Practical experience is indispensable and needs to be revaluated. An uncertified teacher with ten years of experience in the profession can be a much better teacher, assuming that this person is committed to the job, than a newly certified teacher, no matter how knowledgeable he or she is in terms of subject matter knowledge."

No! Really?

FTA “Experience is under-evaluated today, and this is perhaps because we haven’t understood this type of tacit knowledge. Now we know, thanks to brain researchers.”

Then the human race is officially a lost cause.
RickyBarnes1960, on 07/04/2008, -0/+1I'm certain we will find one day that the word "intuition" is redundant and rather unnecessary in describing human abilities which already have adequate name and definition. I'm also certain that "intuition" has nothing to do with an alleged "supernatural" nor anything to do with other dimensions, "magic", the placements of the stars and planets, mysterious "energies", "angels", "fairies", "little green men" or any other outlandish and unsubstantiated claim. Those who believe so without adequate support of their belief show very little respect for those among us who practice good observational and reasoning skills, let alone respect for the skills themselves.

Ironically, jumping to fantasy conclusions and intuition seem to have only one difference between them - when the conclusion is right, we call it intuition, when the conclusion was wrong, it's pure fantasy. There is, of course, taking a good thing a bit too far as is common among those who believe in the pseudosciences.
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Intuition Can Be Explained

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