While some people are skeptical of our intuition, scientists who study the phenomenon say it’s a very real ability that can be identified in lab experiments and visualized on brain scans.
Photo by AlexaMiller.com
Double Vision
Human eyesight might seem straightforward: The eye receives images, the brain processes them. But we actually have two vision tracks–one conscious, the other intuitive–and as a result, the eye sees far more than we generally realize.
For instance, in a phenomenon known as blindsight, people who have gone blind because of brain damage can still navigate an obstacle course or identify emotion on a person’s face, even though they can’t consciously see it. Their intuitive vision track is receiving visual stimuli, even though their conscious vision track isn’t; they know what’s around them–they just don’t know how they know.
Blindsight patients are an extreme example, but they illustrate a phenomenon everyone experiences: We absorb and retain visual information that doesn’t penetrate our conscious mind. Joy Hirsch, PhD, director of the fMRI Research Center at Columbia University Medical Center, has shown that our brains react with anxiety to images of faces expressing fear–even when such images are flashed so quickly we have no idea we’ve seen them.
“The amygdala, which plays an important role in emotional processing, activates in response to these pictures even when they’re displayed for only 33 milliseconds–too fast to register in our conscious awareness,” says Hirsch. This reaction stems from our earliest origins: When our ancestors confronted strangers, those who quickly discerned the newcomers’ feelings and motives were more likely to survive.
Tune In
“We all process things that we’re not consciously aware of–it’s a feeling of knowing that uses an older brain structure,” says neuroscientist Beatrice de Gelder, PhD, who researches blindsight. But because we’re so dependent on our sense of sight, she says, we’re not used to trusting our intuitive vision track. “If you find yourself in a situation that’s making you feel nervous, you may have spotted a reason for concern without even knowing it,” says Hirsch. “Pay attention to the sensation.”
Are you listening to your intuition? What is your “gut” telling you?
About Vanessa Loder
Vanessa graduated from Columbia University, Phi Beta Kappa, Summa Cum Laude and received her MBA from Stanford University. After working in finance for almost ten years, Vanessa realized that she was deeply unfulfilled by her career.
She quit her job to follow her heart and transformed herself so much, that she has now dedicated her life to helping other people, including through her new program,
You Can Create an Ideal Life.
To me, trusting my instinct or following my intuition in parlance with the situation I am in has never let me down. Its a kind of second voice inside me that works non-stop for my betterment.
Exactly! Trusting that inner voice is key in not only gaining confidence in ourselves, but to find our purpose and manifest our ideal life. Thank you for stopping by Sangeetha!
I try to always recognize and trust my intuition, though my husband laughs at me and calls me “superstitious”. I was raised to believe that there’s more to be known than our consciousness can always comprehend, and that the voices guiding us will help us if we let them.