Go With Your Gut - Each of us has a little voice inside that knows more than the conscious mind. It's called intuition, and it deserves your attention.

Cognitive scientists, who study how human beings think and reason, generally define intuition as knowledge gained without rational thought, and they believe it's a natural part of how our brains work. Humans have two main ways of absorbing information. One is a slow, deliberate process, in which we methodically analyze details for instance, comparing two laptop models before buying. The second happens almost instantly, and the insight feels like it came out of the blue. In fact, though, it's based on data we've gathered subconsciously over time and, in a flash, connected with our past experiences.

- By Jennifer King Lindley - illustration by Karolin Schnoor

A gut feeling. A sixth sense. A hunch. All of us have moments when we know something deep in our bones without understanding why. It might be a thunderbolt clap of insight or a persistent inner nagging you can't quite shake. I just swiped right on my future spouse, or I have a bad feeling about this new job. That's your intuition working, says Judith Orloff, MD, a clinical staff member at the University of California, Los Angeles, and the author of The Genius of Empathy. "It's a still, small voice inside us that tells us the truth about things. We all have one-you just have to learn to listen to yours," she says. While it may seem a bit woo-woo, intuition has become a serious area of study for researchers who want to learn the whys and hows of harnessing our hunches.

Cognitive scientists, who study how human beings think and reason, generally define intuition as knowledge gained without rational thought, and they believe it's a natural part of how our brains work. Humans have two main ways of absorbing information. One is a slow, deliberate process, in which we methodically analyze details for instance, comparing two laptop models before buying. The second happens almost instantly, and the insight feels like it came out of the blue. In fact, though, it's based on data we've gathered subconsciously over time and, in a flash, connected with our past experiences.

This latter method came in handy for humans, evolutionarily speaking. Our ancestors didn't have the luxury of dawdling through a lengthy check list to evaluate whether that rustle was a lion or a mongoose. They had to make a snap decision, and there's ample research showing the brain does that by drawing on subconsciously registered information.