Polytechnique insights A REVIEW BY INSTITUT POLYTECHNIQUE DE PARIS
Polytechnique insights A REVIEW BY INSTITUT POLYTECHNIQUE DE PARIS
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Home / Dossiers / Neuroscience / From intuition to consciousness : the invisible boundaries of cognition
π Neuroscience

From intuition to consciousness: the invisible boundaries of cognition

4 episodes
  • 1
    Why pausing intuitive thinking favours complex reasoning
  • 2
    Can neuroscience solve the mystery of consciousness?
  • 3
    Brain: how do we experience time?
  • 4
    How does multilingualism slow down brain aging?
Épisode 1/4

Why pausing intuitive thinking favours complex reasoning
On September 9th, 2025
9 min reading time
Pierre-Marie Lledo
Pierre-Marie Lledo
Research Director at CNRS, Head of Department at Institut Pasteur, and member of the European Academy of Sciences

Key takeaways

  • According to the work of Daniel Kahneman, mental states can fluctuate between two opposing modes of thinking: System 1 and System 2.
  • System 1 is fast, intuitive, and automatic, while System 2 is characterised by its slowness, in-depth analysis, and thoughtful nature.
  • Frontal inhibition is a faculty that suppresses reflexes and automatic responses (System 1) in favour of more thoughtful and considered thinking (System 2).
  • In this sense, “doubt” is not a sign of weakness or hesitation, but rather an ability to question and suspend judgment.
  • Frontal inhibition gives individuals at least three cardinal virtues: intellectual humility, restraint in judgment, and revision of beliefs.
blurred portrait of a man with schizophrenic and mental disorders on a dark background. Stress and paranoia
Épisode 2/4

Can neuroscience solve the mystery of consciousness?
On September 16th, 2025
6 min reading time
1673120250801
Laure Tabouy
Doctor of Neuroscience and PhD student in Neuroethics at Université d'Aix-Marseille

Key takeaways

  • Neuroscience remains a relatively new academic discipline, and there is no theoretical consensus on what consciousness really is.
  • Consciousness is a complex subject of study, and recent technological advances have raised hopes that its physical markers can be identified.
  • The global workspace theory is a popular theory in neuroscience, which describes what consciousness does in a perceptible way.
  • Certain theories pose ethical problems, such as confinement to a materialism that neglects other possible dimensions of consciousness.
  • In particular, we must not forget an essential ethical question: are current technological developments really serving humanity?
Understanding obsessive compulsive disorder through the connection between time and mental processes represented by a brain and clock
Épisode 3/4

Brain: how do we experience time?
On February 26th, 2025
5 min reading time
Virginie Van Wassenhove
Virginie van Wassenhove
Research Director at CEA

Key takeaways

  • Psychological time (experienced and reconstructed by our brains) does not coincide with physical time (measured by our watches), but it is not completely disconnected from it.
  • Scientists are now investigating the way in which neurons code the mental representation of time.
  • This research calls into question the idea of an internal clock synchronised with external rhythms, which beats time and records the beats to count time.
  • The promising CHRONOLOGY project aims to understand how the brain constructs a map of time.
  • One of the project's intuitions is that the neural mechanisms that generate the mental mapping of time are largely common to different species.
Épisode 4/4

How does multilingualism slow down brain aging?
On January 27th, 2026
6 min reading time
Pierre-Marie Lledo
Pierre-Marie Lledo
Research Director at CNRS, Head of Department at Institut Pasteur, and member of the European Academy of Sciences

Key takeaways

  • A study published in November 2025 reveals that multilingualism, the ability to communicate in different languages, protects the brain from ageing.
  • To arrive at these results, the authors analysed data from 86,000 elderly people in 27 European countries.
  • From this data, a specific indicator was created: bio-behavioural age (BBA), which translates the difference between biological age (living conditions) and chronological age (civil age).
  • Speaking several languages stimulates “cognitive reserve”, a cerebral resource that allows information to forge new pathways within neural networks.
  • This discovery highlights the importance of cognitive, social and cultural factors for future global public health strategies.

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