Pathfinding: a neurodynamical account of intuition.
Communications biology August 13, 2025 Steven Kotler, Michael Mannino, Karl Friston et al. 2 citations
Intuition, often inconsistently defined, is reframed as an evolutionarily grounded pathfinding mechanism that emerges from the brain's optimization of its relationship with the environment. A review of empirical findings identifies relevant brain networks and links intuition to cognitive states like insight. Unsolved problems dynamically alter attractor landscapes, guiding future intuitions. The concept of 'opportunistic assimilation' is explored through nonlinear neurodynamics, and hippocampal sharp wave ripples are identified as potential neural correlates of intuition, given their role in creativity, choice, action planning, and abstract thinking. Two complementary frameworks—the free energy principle and metastable coordination dynamics—together provide a comprehensive neurodynamical account of intuition's neurophenomenology.