Instincts

Hon'nō [本能]

• a natural or intuitive way of acting or thinking.
• a natural propensity or skill of a specified kind.
• an inborn impulse or motivation to action typically performed in response to specific external stimuli.
• a way of behaving, thinking, or feeling that is not learned.
• a natural desire or tendency that makes you want to act in a particular way.
• drives or motivates one to act in ways beneficial to their survival.
• a feeling or reaction based on an instinctive emotional response rather than considered thought.

A sixth sense, hunch, or gut feeling: Whatever you choose to call it, the sudden flash of insight from deep within, dep down at the lizard brain.

Signs of a gut feeling

• a flash of clarity
• tension or tightness in your body
• goosebumps or prickling
• stomach “butterflies” or nausea
• a sinking sensation in the pit of your stomach
• sweaty palms or feet
• thoughts that keep returning to a specific person or situation
• feelings of peace, safety, or happiness (after making a decision)

Any behaviour is instinctive if it is performed without being based upon prior experience (that is, in the absence of learning), and is therefore an expression of innate biological factors. - https://tinyurl.com/yc4fpp53

Instinctual Behavior:

An adaptive response to a stimulus in one's environment. It is carried out by the nervous system as a result of genetics. This type of behavior is not a reflex, but rather a complex and species-specific pattern of activity. Instinctive behavior is also referred to as a stereotyped response. - https://tinyurl.com/yudfeanu

Instincts or gut feelings or instinctual behavior is not of an absence of learning but rather a unique creative action triggered without conscious thought derived from a combination of experiences, learnings and trainings and well as deliberate practices. 

Look at it as triggering some deep suppressed survival instinct encoded in one’s DNA or genetic repository, possibly modified due to experiences of the current time in which we live.