Flow Radio Gut Instinct, Hard Science: The New Neuroscience of Intuition
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Jun 30, 2025 
Michael Mannino, Chief Science Officer at Flow Research Collective and a neuroscientist, shares intriguing insights into the science of intuition. He explains how intuition serves as an ancient survival mechanism linked to neural dynamics. Listeners will learn about the role of the hippocampus in decision-making, why gut instincts can misguide us in specific areas, and how to harness intuition for better creativity and problem-solving. Mannino sheds light on the balance between embodied cognition and analytical thinking, offering a fascinating look into our brain's predictive capabilities.
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Intuition as Brain Pathfinding
- Intuition is a brain's pathfinding mechanism for quickly finding the next best action in uncertain environments.
- It operates subconsciously as a fast, embodied signal, distinct from insight and analytical reasoning.
Intuition Evolution and Function
- Intuition evolved as a predictive mechanism to guide action in uncertain environments, rooted in movement and agency.
- It integrates memory, affordances (action possibilities), and goal sensing in making rapid decisions.
Neural Bases of Intuition
- Intuition involves neural structures like the orbital frontal cortex, anterior insula, hippocampus, and basal ganglia.
- The hippocampus and entorhinal cortex combine memory with pathfinding to predict next moves, linking physical and cognitive navigation.
