A Theory About Intuition

Found this.

Originally posted on Wikipedia
In the 1980s and 1990s, Giacomo Rizzolatti was working with Giuseppe Di Pellegrino, Luciano Fadiga, Leonardo Fogassi, and Vittorio Gallese at the university of Parma, Italy. These neurophysiologists had placed electrodes in the ventral premotor cortex of the macaque monkey to study neurons specialized for the control of hand and mouth actions; for example, taking hold of an object and manipulating it. During each experiment, they recorded from a single neuron in the monkey's brain while the monkey was allowed to reach for pieces of food, so the researchers could measure the neuron's response to certain movements.[9][10] They found that some of the neurons they recorded from would respond when the monkey saw a person pick up a piece of food as well as when the monkey picked up the food. A few years later, the same group published another empirical paper and discussed the role of the mirror neuron system in action recognition, and proposed that the human Broca’s region was the homologue region of the monkey ventral premotor cortex.[11] Further experiments confirmed that approximately 10% of neurons in the monkey inferior frontal and inferior parietal cortex have 'mirror' properties and give similar responses to performed hand actions and observed actions. More recently Christian Keysers and colleagues have shown that both in humans and monkeys, the mirror system also responds to the sound of actions.[12][13] Reports on mirror neurons have been widely published[14] and confirmed[15] with mirror neurons found in both inferior frontal and inferior parietal regions of the brain. Recently, evidence from functional neuroimaging (e.g., fMRI, TMS and EEG) and behavioral strongly suggest the presence of similar mirror neurons systems in humans, where brain regions which respond during both action and the observation of action have been identified. Not surprisingly, these brain regions closely match those found in the macaque monkey.
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Poetic Justice said:
I disagree with you on this. Most people don't know what most of the non verbal signals a person gives of are so how can they interpret all these subtle changes and decide what they mean in consciousness. The working out happens in the subconscious and the result is given to us in consciousness.
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Apologies, let me clarify.. Subordinate to conscious function means that when information is assimilated through sensory perception/biological processes/chemical reactions (external -> internal activities), the resulting conscious output/processing is a basic form of intuition. So when intuition as a personality trait is considered, it simply means that the processing part is given a greater amount of priority.

Conversely with Sensor personalities, the priority is based on input. So emphasis is being placed on what information is being taken in (literalism). However extensive the effect is.

Are we on the same page?
 
I think you might be on to something. I've also seem to be able to take in cues that people that dont usually notice such as word phrasing and what words are used. All these seem to complement my intuition.
 
That's so interesting Poetic.

So what makes INFJs pick up those subtle cues? as opposed to others who may not..

I've thought about this before. I don't think I feel empathy in the sense of taking ON someone's feelings and feeling the way they do. I do feel a lot of sympathy. For example, today at work, someone was joking around. The joke had to do with a certain situation. So she pretended to be in that situation, as a joke. The way she expressed herself was almost frantic. I immediately felt anxiety seize me. Even though I knew and told myself that she was just joking, but that didn't really help. I calmed down when she stopped her stint. This is also someone who has high expectation so maybe deep inside I was releasing my own anxiety regarding me meeting those expectations. Maybe I just immediately respond with a heightened level of anxiety towards her. I know I don't relax around her as I might around someone easy-going.

I don't know.. I get emotionally involved in other people's situations, but I don't think I ever really take on their feelings.
I don't know if I just have a poorly developed F function or if my type isn't really INFJ. Some days I think I'm moderately balanced between S-N, F-T, and J-P. Whatever the reason, I am clearly confused..
 
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T7nXiXQb2iM

This one is about the limbic system. The amygdala is the part which picks up on cues from the external world and assigns emotional meta-data to them (to give them context in which to store them)

'Mirror Neurons' are also useful for doing this, though I'm not sure if they're part of the limbic system.
 
I've known INFJs can sense underlying patterns of behavior but I hadn't really considered the psychoneurology behind it. It would be interesting if intuition is the result of the brain "reading" itself rather than simply taking in external information and processing it.

Of course, it makes sense since intutive personality types are much more interested in the abstract and introspection as opposed to sensor types who tend to just be in the moment. From Poetic's theories, it seems perfectly plausible that intution is just a form of subconcious introspection, in which the brain takes in external information and then examines itself for similar experiences and presents the results as a hunch. By contrast, sensors rely on inherited patterns of thought, such as habit or tradition.

That might also explain why sensor's seem to have a much simpler, albeit stabler, way of thinking, whereas intuitives are prone to much higher levels of neuroticism. It may be the difference between having an external basis for perception versus a mental basis for perception.
 
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NephilimAzrael said:
Apologies, let me clarify.. Subordinate to conscious function means that when information is assimilated through sensory perception/biological processes/chemical reactions (external -> internal activities), the resulting conscious output/processing is a basic form of intuition. So when intuition as a personality trait is considered, it simply means that the processing part is given a greater amount of priority.

Conversely with Sensor personalities, the priority is based on input. So emphasis is being placed on what information is being taken in (literalism). However extensive the effect is.

Are we on the same page?
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I sort of understand what you are saying but I'm not sure if it is relevant to what we are discussing. Part of the processing is of course given to us in consciousness. But I think the vast majority of it isn't. Otherwise this thread wouldn't exist because it would be common knowledge what these processes are. For it ti exist in pre consciousness it must eventually come into consciousness. clearly it doesn't

Soulful said:
today at work, someone was joking around. The joke had to do with a certain situation. So she pretended to be in that situation, as a joke. The way she expressed herself was almost frantic. I immediately felt anxiety seize me. Even though I knew and told myself that she was just joking, but that didn't really help. I calmed down when she stopped her stint.
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I think your subconsciouss mind picked up those signals and gave you the warning. But your consciouss mind knew it wasn't a real situation so that created a bit of a conflict in your head. Subconsciousness and consciousness don't always agree.

Regarding the Limbic system: I suspect the mirror neurons may just be part of the limbic system. don't know, just a hunch. It seems that it is involved with recognising behaviour. the mirror neuron seems a good way of recognising what someone is doing. I think the bit on the video about the amygalda was fascinating. Perhaps a seperate thread about that?

Sorry I know this is three in a row but I have to comment on this.

Satya said:
It would be interesting if intuition is the result of the brain "reading" itself rather than simply taking in external information and processing it.
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This seems to be the case. Which is why we can get it so dramatically wrong at times. Even when we are sure we are right. Next time you get a "feeling" about someone it might be worth considering that not everyones signals mean the same thing as they would in you

Can someone tell me how to put quotes from different people in the same post please
 
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I merged them for you.

I personally just copy and paste and then insert their name in the tag like so...

 
I sort of understand what you are saying but I'm not sure if it is relevant to what we are discussing. Part of the processing is of course given to us in consciousness. But I think the vast majority of it isn't. Otherwise this thread wouldn't exist because it would be common knowledge what these processes are. For it ti exist in pre consciousness it must eventually come into consciousness. clearly it doesn't
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Or that the confusion here is between there being a subconscious at all, or the pre-conscious being what you call subconscious. Preconscious is subliminal in nature. Just as not all information from sensory stimulation is stored for processing, then neither is it necessary for all of the information to filter through into cognitive processing.
 
The subconscious is anything that you are not holding in consciousness at any given time. Your sub consciouss can work things out hundreds if not thousands of times quicker than your consciousness. There are too many changes a person can give off and the intuition is given to us too quickly for the working out to be done in anything but the subconscious. We couldn't possibly manage that much information consciously.

Maybe our definitions are different. This is mine and I still think it is true.
 
Poetic Justice said:
The subconscious is anything that you are not holding in consciousness at any given time. Your sub conscious can work things out hundreds if not thousands of times quicker than your consciousness.
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Ok, we can agree on this, but I merely call it pre-conscious processing, whilst you prefer the psychoanalytic title and definition. That is fine.

There are too many changes a person can give off and the intuition is given to us too quickly for the working out to be done in anything but the subconscious. We couldn't possibly manage that much information consciously.
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I never claimed that it works consciously. But it does process itself before conscious reflection comes into effect. What I am forwarding is that the pre-conscious is automatic in operation. It is our biology that runs the additional processes through, based on the autonomic nervous system, amygdala, mendulla and hindbrain in general.
Each dividing up the task. So I think this is a case of similar concepts, but disagreement over semantics. If I am reading your post correctly that is.
Maybe our definitions are different. This is mine and I still think it is true.[/quote]
 
Ok, misunderstanding. We both mean the same thing, we just call it something different.
 
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