Pathfinding: a neurodynamical account of intuition.
Steven Kotler, Michael Mannino, Karl Friston, Gyorgy Buzsáki, J A Scott Kelso, Guillaume Dumas
Communications biology August 13, 2025 Peer reviewed DOI: 10.1038/s42003-025-08612-9 via PubMed
Summary
Intuition is an experience-based process that leads to spontaneous hunches or hypotheses. This review proposes that intuition evolved as a pathfinding mechanism from the brain's optimization of its relationship with the environment. Unsolved problems dynamically alter attractor landscapes, guiding future intuitions. Hippocampal sharp wave ripples are identified as potential neural correlates of intuition, involved in creativity, choice, action planning, and abstract thinking. The free energy principle and metastable coordination dynamics together provide a comprehensive neurodynamical account of intuition's neurophenomenology.
Study at a glance
| Design | review |
|---|---|
| Key finding | Hippocampal sharp wave ripples are potential neural correlates of intuition, and the free energy principle and metastable coordination dynamics together provide a comprehensive neurodynamical account of intuition's neurophenomenology. |
Abstract
We examine the neurobiology of intuition, a term often inconsistently defined in scientific literature. While researchers generally agree that intuition represents "an experienced-based process resulting in a spontaneous tendency toward a hunch or hypothesis," we establish a firmer neurobiological foundation by framing intuition evolutionarily as a pathfinding mechanism emerging from the brain's optimization of its relationship with the environment. Our review synthesizes empirical findings on intuition's neurobiological basis, including relevant brain networks and their relationship to cognitive states like insight. We propose that unsolved problems dynamically alter attractor landscapes, guiding future intuitions. We investigate "opportunistic assimilation" through nonlinear neurodynamics and identify hippocampal sharp wave ripples as potential neural correlates of intuition, citing their role in creativity, choice, action planning, and abstract thinking. Finally, we explore intuition through two complementary perspectives: the free energy principle, which models brains as minimizing uncertainty through predictive hierarchical coding, and metastable coordination dynamics, describing the brain's simultaneous tendencies toward regional cooperation and functional autonomy. Together, these principles provide a comprehensive neurodynamical account of intuition's neurophenomenology.