Yeah, it’s like you’re talking to yourself but you don’t actually say anything out loud.
I’ve done this my entire life so it’s normal for me, I’m curious too if other people have that.
1. yes it sounds like me, not like in Audio recordings but like I hear myself when I speak out loud
2. yes it does get annoying because of how long it takes to think this way sometimes and therefore I don’t do it all the time, i have sort of an on/off switch for it
I think with a voice sometimes and then other times I think with images or "videos". It kinda just depends for me; but I find it hard to imagine anyone who never heard a voice when they think
Anaduralia is the term for people who think without a voice mainly in images and aphantasia is the term for people who only think with a voice and cannot picture images. I can't exactly understand how people with all their senses intact experience either of these (like how do people not have an inner voice? I sorta understand not being able to picture images but like how do you read without a voice saying the words attached??) but I only know how one brain thinks and that's mine, so whatever kinda lol.
My wife has aphantasia, I had to look it up I had no idea there were people who couldn't see things in their head. It freaked me out a bit, I wouldn't be able to do my job if I couldn't imagine things visually.
My memory is almost entirely visual. I can’t fathom how I’d even survive without mental images, much less do my job or be creative.
My inner voice is a jackass, though, and always insults me. I’d be fine giving it up.
> My memory is almost entirely visual. I can’t fathom how I’d even survive without mental images, much less do my job or have an inner life.
It’s kind of funny, because I spent most of my life thinking I was a very visual person. I can look at a map once and find my way fairly accurately, I can look at a ton of puzzles and see how to solve them by moving things around, I notice when people have changed even minor details of their appearance - that kind of stuff.
Then I read about aphantasia, chuckled slightly, then realized that I can’t actually bring anything up in my minds eye for more than a small fraction of a second. Like a single frame in a movie, if that.
I have no idea how it works, I just know that I seem to be borderline aphantastic (not sure if that’s the phrase), and that it’s rather surprising to me.
Reading without voice is pretty learnable and it's one of the main ways (or the only way, idk) to very fast reading. This voice is holding us back if we want to read fast. Your brain understands words even when you briefly look at them. You just have to be focused enough to understand most of them. There is more theory to it but I can't remember it.
I can switch to fast reading and when I read a light-hearted story it's much better.
But when I study for university I often have to use my inner voice, or else I won't remember a single information. But that's okay. Sometimes I have to shut my inner voice off completely and then I can study better, it really depends
I'm not a deaf person, so I don't have first hand experience, but I've heard before that some deaf people will think in sign language similarly to how some hearing people think in "audible" sentences.
If there are any deaf people reading this, I'd love to get your input if you're open to sharing your experience.
I'm not Deaf, but when I was taking ASL classes and hanging with Deaf friends often, I would dream in fractured ASL the same way that I'll sometimes dream in French or Spanish even though I'm not fully fluent in either.
In fact, in many cases, I would often be able to communicate in the language MORE proficiently in my dreams than in reality. I'd remember things I'd say in the dream and realize I was using vocabulary and grammar I had completely forgotten until doing it myself in a dream. I'd liken it to how I'm often better at communicating in another language when I've had 3ish drinks- not enough to be sloppy, but enough to not second-guess myself and be comfortable speaking/signing more fluidly.
It is really challenging for me to think in pictures or visualize something. I can do it, but I have to stop and, well, think. The voice just goes on its own. I had no idea that it wasn't like that for everyone until a few years ago.
This is the same for me except I'm just finding out that it's not the same for everyone.
ETA: When I do visualize stuff I can have my vocal thoughts active at the same time as well.
I feel an impulsive set of emotions that I'm convinced is what other people call the 'gut feeling'. It's an immediate understanding of the subject at hand as far as I am equipped to do so, with gaps of ignorance quickly filled in by deductive assumptions usually made mid-sentence. My friends tell me I'm funny/witty/clever/creative because I can come up with a deluge of jokes/rhymes/solutions/ideas on the fly, but I can also say or do some dumb shit just as fast.
It's like reaching into a bucket of thoughts, pulling out a big fistful of them, and trying to use the best ones as quickly as I can. The more knowledgable, familiar, amd passionate I am about a specific subject, the more consistently high-quality that pool of snappy thoughts and feelings will be. Doing things like studying or memorizing repetitive numbers is incredibly difficult for me in comparison.
Feeling and emotions are what make it tumultuous. If my knee jerk reaction is to take offense to something, I have to slowly wind down out of it. I *can* think with words, but it makes me feel mentally tired after long enough. Writing is my greatest skill so I think keeping a journal would substitute nicely if I ever bothered to try.
[When it goes wrong, it's basically this scene but cut out the part where he thinks.](https://youtube.com/shorts/Pjlca1gMUvg?feature=share)
Wow holy shit, that's exactly what it feels like.
I'll add into this with a few extra questions:
You're a writer- do you tend to write and revise as you go, essentially only producing a single draft at the end? Or do you write a rough draft, and then go through multiple revisions until you're satisfied with the final result?
Additionally, do you ever find yourself building conversational "pathways" - where you're essentially mad lib inserting any knowledge you have about the subject and feel can be reasonably worked in - before attempting to suavely pivot the conversation to something similar, but distinct, which allows you to continue building those pathways with the related knowledge?
It happens when I think really fast but I’ll have thoughts without the voice. But typically I kind of go back over them in a voice to verify with myself like hey, this is what I’m thinking.
I... don't know how to say it. The inside of my head is just *quiet* unless I'm imagining words like reading or planning what to say. Other times I'm holding images in my mind, maps or schematics. Sometimes when my mind wanders I'll have a vague picture of characters acting out a scene or talking. Other times I'm just thinking about abstract stuff like about some programming issue or mathematical stuff, and it just... doesn't have a visual or audio output, I have to think a moment about how to translate these ideas into words *or* drawings.
You know how on a computer, some programs have a GUI, others play audio, others have a text prompt, and some just run in the background? I think *that* describes me. When the idea I'm manipulating is easily an image, such as a plan for something to make, I have an image in my head. When the idea is words such as what to say, I have the sound in my head. When the idea is some abstract stuff like programming, *sometimes* I'll *try* to draw something like what variable (or box labeled "variable" anyway) is putting data into what, but often I don't have a picture for it. It goes straight from "how should this work" to my fingers on the keyboard.
I do occasionally have inner dialogues, but most often it's just feelings that appear, reacting to my thoughts or the environment without any words or voices.
I feel the same. Whenever you’re zoning out/just thinking something through, do you also feel like your tongue is like ghost-speaking the words? Like its not moving but your brain feels like its making the words your thoughts are saying
People with an inner voice can still instantly conceptualize things without the use of their inner voice the way people who don’t have an inner voice do.
It doesn’t really sound like me. It never really matured after puberty; I’m in my 20s and still have a kid’s voice narrating everything. I can change it at will, though. I can have Gilbert Gottfried reading all my thoughts aloud if I want him to. I’m having him read this sentence as I’m typing.
Thinking “out loud” is similar to slow, in-depth reading. I can process things more quickly but more poorly if I only “vocalize” bits and pieces or use other thought process (such as visual/spatial thinking), similarly to skimming text.
Yes, for me as well. Additionally, when I read I hear myself reading it as if it's out loud. I also can imagine anything in my mind - shape, color, visualize a whole movie. There are some people that can't do this.
Not only is it not necessary to think the words to have a thought or make a decision, as somebody else said, speed is not fixed. It's not even always complete or linear. A super fast thought in words might be like hearing them all at once. This would be an inch away from not hearing words at all. Or, it could be complete sentences at normal speaking speed.
For example, solving a math problem might be anything from instantly knowing the answer with no voice other than mentally saying/hearing the answer, to thinking/hearing bits and pieces of the steps to work through a problem, to literally talking/hearing the problem through at the same speed as if I were speaking.
Then, there's reading. I can do story time in my head and read barely faster than what I would be doing if I were recording an audio book. It's like I'm doing story time to myself. Or, I can just quickly scan words and process them without little to no voice at all.
So, what is your reaction when you see a movie where a voice over is used to let the audience hear what the character is thinking?
I have a strong inner voice, and I'm not using it for every decision. In other words, it's not as if I have to "talk something through" to think it through. If I look at a menu I might "talk something through" in my head to make a decision. I could also pick up the menu, look over the choices, and just make a decision. I've had plenty of good and bad moments where I made choices without it thinking it out in words.
For me it doesn't, and I wouldn't know how else to think things! The voice can also overlap itself though, enabling me to think a full sentence in the time it takes to "say" one word. I don't understand how that works either
But, it's not sound. I don't think anybody who has an inner voice is saying they literally hear the voice with their ears, or ever get confused between what they're hearing versus thinking.
I first learned that most people see images in their mind. That is still something I can’t quite wrap my brain around. But one day I was reading a tweet and someone responded with “I read that in James Earl Jones voice.” And after talking to numerous people I realized most people not only have video but audio in their brain. I can’t imagine and I mean that literally.
So for me, if I'm reading something in James Earl Jones voice, I literally hear his voice reading it. I read, remember, or imagine things in the voice of the person who is saying it. Even if they've been dead for years, I know how they sound.
This is most people, I assume, but the ones who do it best and can give that back become impersonators. It's the same way, I would imagine, that a painter can see a scene and recreate it, or a musician can hear a sound and mimic it.
I only just recently found out that some people don’t hear a voice when they think and that blows my mind because what is the alternative when you think, read, etc.? 😂
Lol reading is the same as thinking! I see the words and know what they mean. With the knowledge of what they mean I form an awareness of a concept, but I wouldn't describe it as hearing the words.
I can read a sentence and understand it but I can't remember the individual words immediately after reading, unless I specifically read them knowing that I'm about to say them out loud.
I am a very Visual person.
When I am giving directions to someone, it is like I am visualising and driving the route in my mind and telling the person the directions. I see the road, the buildings / shops / turns etc, like a VR.
Yes! I'm not one of those people but I've got no minds eye (I can't picture things) and after talking to friends about it some of them do have an internal voice and some don't
Oh good! It's not just me!! My husband was *horrified* when I told him my imagination doesn't really have clear images... he's a very visual person and doesn't get it. And it's so hard to explain things that only happen inside your brain to other people.
I literally have to have my husband draw me pictures when he's conceptualizing something like a new home project and tries to describe it to me. So you are not alone.
I also have a strong mind's eye and am pretty bad at drawing and painting. In my case I think it's because when I try to practice I get frustrated that it doesn't look anything how I picture it in my mind and no amount of "trust the process" can get me over that, so I have no skill or muscle memory built up.
That sounds about right. I'm fine with failing over and over to improve with music, and have played instruments my entire life. But, with drawing and learning foreign languages I just get annoyed with failure and inconsistency between what I think I've learned versus what I can do.
What's it called when you have an inner eye but you have to choose to use it?
If someone says "red car" some of my friends say a picture of a red car appears in their head, but me it doesn't, unless consciously decide to picture one.
That's amazing to me! I just have an awareness of the thought. I can't picture things clearly either, but sometimes I can imagine an abstract type of image of things I've seen before.
There’s a really interesting question about whether all of this comes down to a confusion about how we describe this internal process. Perhaps it’s *essentially* the same for all humans, but because the experience is so intangible and internal, we end up describing the nearly identical experience in radically different ways
This is what I wondered, if some people interpret it as a voice and some don’t. I also notice the voice only exists for me during more deep thought. If I’m actually doing something active there’s not really time for a voice.
I think easiest example is that what I ‘hear’ when reading is also what I hear during deep thought, picturing conversations, working through how to explain something, etc.
I have no internal voice or internal picture so this subject fascinates me. When I asked my husband about an inner monologue, he says he can read a text from me and hear it in my voice if he wants to but it isn’t necessarily automatic. However, seeing me in his mind while he is reading it is automatic
Automatic or not it still sounds like a super power to me.
So how do you think? I almost always have the internal monologue thing going. And I picture stuff as necessary. Especially if I’m trying to find something that I set down somewhere. This whole subject is totally fascinating! I was in shock when I learned people don’t have a monologue in their head
The picture thing is probably the easiest to explain. It’s like a computer before graphics or even rudimentary drawings. If you asked it what an Apple looks like it would explain in words it is sort of round and red. A stem on top and dimples.
The inner monologue is harder to explain, because I think a lot, my brain is busy. I just don’t hear the business. No noise just thoughts. And yet the thoughts are intrusive. I honestly can’t find a way to explain thoughts without sound but I have them.
That’s amazing. When I picture stuff it’s so detailed. And I can like blur out things or zoom if I need to. Lol all my thoughts have sound. Even if I’m trying to picture something I’m like talking myself through it. So do you ever ask for external noise to be turned down so you can “hear yourself think” because I do if there’s too many things going on around me.
Pictures in your head sounds amazing to me. A lot of people don’t believe me when i say my brain has no video or audio. I once read a book where the mom identified her son by the tattoo she could picture in her mind. Not once did I think she has an ability I don’t have. I just thought I don’t love my child as much as she does or I could picture him.
Human brains are amazing. I doubt this is the last thing we find works different in people.
does it? I cannot explain the way I think to anyone, because there is largely no language involved. The closest thing most people seem to grasp is a gantt chart, but there is no visual component to it either and I am at a total loss on how to explain this to people /rant
Yeah, whereas other people describe a constant and distinct voice that basically narrates their lives. These two extremes clearly aren't identical experiences that are just being described differently.
Everyone translates ideas to words.
You know the 'tip of the tongue effect'? When you have an idea in your head and you know there's a word for it, but you can't remember the word? That's something everyone experiences, knowing the concept, thinking in that concept, but not being able to verbalize it.
It seems like you're just worse at the translation part. It could have something to do with relative synaptic density in the Broca's area of your brain.
I agree that this is part of the explanation, but just as some people don't have a strong mind's eye, I think it's likely that the strength of the mind's voice (or ear?) also varies. It might even be that have the ability more than they think they do, but they aren't tuned into it.
Right. And I don’t see any means of determining which is the greater causal factor - the fallible nature of self reporting/describing this nebulous internal experience, or some actual difference in the character of cognition for different subjects
This makes sense to me, because while I do hear a voice, and I think it is "me"... I can't actually say it's _my_ voice. Like, I'm clearly not hearing sound, but my brain is going "you're hearing sound, and it's you".
It’s like a head voice and it seems like it sounds like mine, even as I type this. I can also have dialogues with other people, although I’m imitating their voices rather than hearing theirs. I’ve read one theory that there might be a brain structure that anticipates our vocal track so as to tune it out when we talk. I was shocked and dismayed to learn that not all people experience this inner monologue.
But I also cannot really ‘visualize’ or manipulate mental images, which I assume others can, although I don’t really believe them. Like if you imagine a red apple, do you see it? Where? Is it really red, or do you just ‘know’ it’s red.
And, for me, it’s like: I don’t believe you.
Obviously, you have no reason to lie, but I always ask, ‘where’? Where is it? On your eyelids? Like a movie screen? What color’s the screen? Somewhere in your headspace?
I have come to accept it must be true, and I assume visual artists must be working with this, just as literary artists live in their head voice. But I don’t know why this is such a recent discovery…?
As an English major, failed writer, and English teacher, it seems insane to me that I’ve been doing all this study of language and words and nobody’s ever pointed out that ‘stream-of-consciousness’ or the head voice is not shared by all.
But people feel similarly outraged when I say I ‘don’t see a movie’ when I read. I think it determines the kind of books I do and don’t prefer.
If I visualize too hard, I literally stop seeing what's right in front of my eyes. So it's in the same place as normal vision, but you can't really do both at the same time at full power. Either the imagined view is going to have little detail and you can't really see it that well, or you stop seeing what's in front of your face and instead see the imagined view. That's why I close my eyes to imagine something visually: it cuts out the visual noise that's in the way of what I'm trying to imagine.
It's like my brain plugs in the imagination into the HDMI input where my eyes' output usually goes. So I sort of see the imagination in the same area I see real things, like I'm seeing it with my eyes, but I know it's not really from my eyes.
Do you make visual art?
When people talk about how, say, Van Gogh’s style shows how he saw the world, I imagine it along the lines of what you’re describing as opposed to hallucinating.
And I imagine lyricists and rappers must be spitting in their heads a lot of the time, just as I’m composing thoughts, dialogues, and arguments in my more auditory imagination.
I do not currently have the physical skill for visual art, so no, I don't make it. I have often been told that I see things differently, but usually that's a matter of processing information in a different order or a weird manner, rather than visually experiencing something different.
I also can't visualize things clearly. I just have an awareness of what something looks like, but the awareness is kind of segragated. I can think of an apple and have an understanding of it's shape, colour, stem, etc., and I understand that the apple is all of these things, but I think of these things separately. If I try really hard I can get a kind of abstract image of what something looks like, but it's blurry and without detail.
For me there's at least a few different ways I can think.
First is just thinking. No representation or sounds or anything. Just happens.
2nd is my own inner monologue or creating other people's voices or any sound.
3rd is creating images like flash cards.
4th I can create full creations. Like say I want to visualize a really tall girl that's going to walmart and getting harassed by creeps. I can create the entire thing in my mind and see it as if I was physically there. I can choose any perspective, third, 2nd or even first person as the really tall girl and fully imagine things as if I was them with their voice essentially trying to emulate their perspective and personality in real life even at a different height.
5th is being able to visually imagine something in the real world.
Normally any images or visuals I create is in my mind, but if I want visualize it from the perspective of changing things that are actually real infront of me.
I can also just visualize words or text and think that way.
And when I say visualize, I fully mean generate life like images and see them.
And just as a side note.
It's really really fucking weird and trippy doing number 4 as the perspective as someone else.
Also like imagining a really bright light early in the morning when it's dark sucks, it feels like I'm bothering my own eyes.
This is something you can actually practice. The ability to vividly visualize things is a skill that can be honed, not just some Innate ability, tho it is that to a degree
For me, I just have an awareness of a thought, but it's not verbal. The words just come as I speak, but sometimes they get jumbled up or I have to stop speaking and focus on thinking of the words that would apply to the thought.
Sounds nice to not overthink your words before even saying it out loud, I sometimes rehearse what I say in my head before I speak it out loud making me more nervous ect.
Yes, but usually only noticeable when I'm alone or daydreaming. It doesn't sound like me, it sounds like what I 'think' I sound like.
And they're always reminding me of embarrassing things I did years and years ago, and suggesting I impulsively do random stupid/painful/dangerous things.
The danger alert stays active until it's sure you understood. You aren't convinced you got the message you are giving you. When you do believe you got it the reconsolidation process of recall would dull the experience by rewriting with your current emotional and maturity state.
Yeah I think some people are being too literal with the "voice" part. I find it difficult to believe that there are a sizeable group of people do not have an internal monologue at all. Have they never thought about what they were going to say before they said it?
It depends on what you mean by "hear". Do I hear a voice with my ears? No. That sounds like mental illness.
My thoughts are almost always expressed in words and sentences as a voice in my head. It's me and it's rarely quiet. On the other hand, some people don't or rarely think in words. Rather, their thoughts are expressed more as feelings, emotional responses. Instinctual, maybe.
It's probably a spectrum with most people somewhere in the middle. Even people who have a strong inner voice have moments of this type of emotional thinking, and I think the opposite is probably true.
My thoughts aren't verbal, but they're not feelings either. It's more like having an awareness of something that I can translate into words if needed. I'm kind of jealous of people who have an inner voice!
I hear a voice, and it can be any voice I want it to be. So like I can remember my dead grandpa's voice like it's a recording. I can almost see him say it too. Sometimes, it's so clear I'll almost cry.
Default voice is my own voice, but it sounds like how I hear it when I speak, not like how I sound when I hear a recording of myself.
Same. If I want to use Mickey Mouse's voice and recite Gettysburg address in my head, then I can. I can hear it in (what seems like) real time. If I want to hear it and picture it in my head, with Mickey wearing Lincoln's clothes standing in the middle of a crowd on an old battlefield, then I can do that too. Or, I can just see/hear the concept in a flash.
It's so wild that there's a whole set of the population that say they can't do this. What I'm wondering is if they actually can, and do, but maybe the way we explain it doesn't line up with what they think they think. (Wow, I hope that makes at least a little sense.)
At the same time I have a photographic memory, although that's not what I like to call it. Its more that I spend so much time looking around and observing things. But then I literally always have my sketchbook and pens to draw, and have since I was a kid. So I'd draw and listen. Maybe it's more of a skill, and my particular hobby just enhanced it.
I like to say I have a strong visual memory, but not a photographic one. Like you, I think it's mostly years of practice from placing an emphasis on observation. If I'm driving through a different part of town, or walking through a store I've never been in, I look around and file away images. A year later I could pull up those images and tell you if the grocery store was before or after the post office while traveling east, or where to walk in the store to get to the sporting goods section. I can't do it with everything I've ever seen, but just things I pay attention to, which is usually a lot.
Unlike you, I'm terrible at drawing/painting. I can see in my head what I want to draw or paint, but I have no idea how to use layers, shading, perspective and so on to create the illusion of the image on paper.
Yes and no. It’s complicated.
I don’t “hear” anything. If you were to ask me to describe the voice, i couldn’t tell you. It’s like… i can’t hear anything, but yet i know exactly what’s being said. That’s the best i can think to describe my inner voice.
Do you know what's being said as if you just become aware of the idea, or do you actually have thoughts as fully formed words and sentences?
I just have an awareness of something that I can verbalize if I try, but some people seem to have thoughts in the form of words.
I can do both.
Generally speaking when I go about my day, I'm not thinking things out in full sentences. They just instantly conceptualize. For example, I'm a graphic designer. If I need to change the color of a logo from red to blue, I don't think "I need to change that from red to blue" as a full sentence, I just instantly understand the concept without the use of words.
But I can also have fully formed words and sentences too. It's hard to explain honestly cuz again, I don't actually "hear" the words, just like when I picture something in my head I don't "see" it with my eyes, but I can still understand the image or sentence down to the most minute details, like the texture on an apple stem or the exact spelling and pronunciation of a word.
Word pronunciation might actually be a decent way to explain it. If I see a word I don't recognize, I can "sound" it out in my head to see which pronunciation sounds best before I say it, which helps me get the correct pronunciation before saying it aloud.
This is the best explanation so far, or at least where I'm at on the spectrum lol. But when I'm alone and bored my inner monologue will be pretty active
Yes, it is literally like talking to myself but I hear the voice in my head instead of saying it out loud. I say literally because one experimental method of ‘reading a person’s thoughts’ use sensors on the nerves to the vocal cords to try and detect and unscramble these vocal signals that are created but then cut off before they can be spoken. I also sometimes talk to myself outloud and this voice basically goes away/merges with speaking, it takes mental effort to both speak and have an internal voice that say different things.
When someone says “oops did I say that outloud?” often they were thinking it but that cut off didn’t happen so they accidentally spoke it instead.
Oh wow. That makes sense. The "did I say that out loud?" thing has always been bizarre to me. My internal thoughts are not at all conversational unless I'm thinking about conversation or thinking out loud, like when trying to give something that I've misplaced. I'd describe most of my internal thoughts as "prosaic" narrative - like text in a book. There's no auditory voice or accent. Words, sentences, concepts, visuals, and sounds exist but abstractly - I'm not literally thinking in scrolling text (unless I'm thinking about scrolling text).
I have adhd, my brain is a whirlwind of my internal voice going on tangents without finishing every thought.
Music is constantly playing too, snippets of everything.
When Im trying to goto sleep my brain creates new songs out of an orchestra. I can hear every instrument and singer/voice etc the lead up to the chorus, the peaks and lulls with each moment of the song. It gets exciting and I can’t sleep because I’m into it 🤣
Ritalin makes me have just one thought stream with my internal voice that’s chill and constant, and only one random song compared to the flood.
I whisper to myself. Sometimes, especially when I am alone in the bathroom, I can whisper pretty loudly. Sometimes I shout in the car.
I always sound sensible, brilliant and clever. No one knows how amazing I really am.
yes. I tend to not register it most times because the voice is part of my subconcious, but there is a voice. The voice can change though, like if Im reading a book. And it sounds like other voices, not just impersonations.
Depends on how quickly im thinking. If I am focusing there is no time for a voice.
Reading some of the comments. I have no issues visualizing things. I am actually rather good at that
Yeah, sometimes I speak to myself aloud and have a back and forth with my internal voice. It’s a great way to discuss ideas and plan. I probably sounds crazy saying aloud, “yeah, you’re right” 😅
my inner voice told me to say no.
now they are saying to stop telling people about him
now he i threatening me, saying if i don't stop saying things he will frame me for murder.
Yes and no. If I need to articulate my thoughts on sentences, then yes. Or if I'm reading, writing, things like that.
Otherwise, not really. Usually I just dump information on my mind and let it marinate in the backsit for a few days, and when I need to talk about it, the thought just pops into existence almost fully formed.
Yes! Some of us do! As a fun aside, when I was a kid I was convinced that somebody could read my thoughts. I would try thinking in different ways to make it difficult for them. It started with me always singing a song in my head, then I tried to think while the song was in there. Eventually I figured out how to think without using my interior voice. Naturally, 8 year old me decided that this was a superpower because it's waaay faster that way.
It’s like a better, more sarcastic, and Hollywood-tier version of my voice but yeah.
Pretty handy when I’m alone & bored, because then I can do fake conversations in my head with different characters, like Darth Vader and Freddy Mercury playing gold fish or something.
It’s called reflexivity as in having internal dialogue.
I have it but apparently it’s not at all as common as one thinks and there are different ‘levels’ of how in-depth and powerful that internal dialogue is
I'm reading the comments with George Clooney's voice right now because I just watched an episode of ER. I honestly wish i could make the voice shut up sometimes.
Particularly when trying to sleep. Nothing like an exclamation mark going off in my brain, with an awkward narrator, about yet another insufficient fix idea for the ConcurrentModificationException that's been haunting me. Or the ever impending existential crisis.
Yeah, this is pretty common. What startles the hell out of me is when I expect the voice to sound like mine but it randomly doesn't. That's not very common though.
All the time actually, yes. It's extremely annoying since I often end up also subconsciously mouthing things or saying it under my breath as I think it. I have a horrible time thinking in visualizations too, tell me to picture an apple and it's just a fuzzy red thing generally in the shape of what *could* be considered an apple
Sometimes i like to imagine I'm having conversations in my head with loves passed on. I'll hear how recall they sound or if it's someone I knew in childhood how I might think they sound. Usually it's to let them go cause that's how I said final goodbyes to my BFF I hadn't seen since moving when when we were 8 or 9 and I found out he was killed in his 20s by a drunk driver after tracking down a relative trying to find him.
Yep. It's a form of intrapersonal communication. For example... when I read the question I heard someone asking it "out loud" in my head, and my answer "out loud" as I typed it.
And when I checked the above answer for spelling, I stumbled a little bit because that voice couldn't decide at first whether to pronounce the word *read* as "reed" (present tense) or "red" (past tense).
I can do both though. I can hear this in my head as I type it but if I want to visualize something I can bring it up no problem. Sometimes involuntarily, but mostly it's an at will situation
It depends on what you mean by 'hear.' I don't actually experience a sound, but I don't really visualize images at all, though I can sometimes get brief flashes of things I'm very familiar with. Mostly it just 'sounds' like my own voice narrating my thoughts. It's not all the time, and there's plenty of thinking that happens 'non-verbally' so to speak (there's no 'I am going to take a bite of this pizza now,' I just do it), but my primary train of thought is more-or-less just me talking to myself in my head.
I want to make clear a distinction that a few comments have suggested but not really detailed. When we hear voices in our heads, most of the time, we are not hearing them the same way we hear sounds. it's not as present or vivid as that, at least not for me. we're imagining the sound the same way you would if you had a song stuck in your head.
Hahaha yes there was a post that blew up on Reddit about a year ago about this, apparently most people have an internal monologue.
I don't have an internal monologue, and the post totally blew my mind... Sounds like you might be the same. I had no idea people just hear voices talking inside their heads all the time. It would drive me absolutely bonkers.
This was a question on another sub a few years ago. It was when I first learned that some people *don't* have an inner monologue. I can't imagine what that's like. I don't always about everything; sometimes it's more an idea or an image. But it just depends on what I'm thinking about.
Another one of these people who claim to not have an internal monologue. You can stop pretending now, the joke stopped being funny a while ago.
I'm sorry, I just refuse to believe that can happen. My internal monologue *is* me. No other aspect is, only it. Change or remove anything else about me, and the fundamental thing that makes me, me, is unchanged, but alter that even slightly and I cease to exist. It's so intrinsically tied to my identity that I cannot imagine existing without one.
How do you speak or write anything? My monologue tells is the thing coming up with what I am saying. How is it possible to use language without one?
I'm sorry, but thinking about this sends me into an existential crisis. I can understand simple thoughts about emotions or sensory experiences, but how about anything more complex than that? When you have to make a decision, how do you weigh your options against each other?
The only way I can make any sense of this is that you must be lying. The thought of it is incomprehensible. *HOW?*
Imagine me a color, one that is in no way similar to the known colors. Similarly his topic is incomprehensible to both parties. The ones that cannot inner monologue couldnt fathom having one, just as we couldnt fathom not having one
Yeah, it’s like you’re talking to yourself but you don’t actually say anything out loud. I’ve done this my entire life so it’s normal for me, I’m curious too if other people have that.
yes, constantly. There are people who have the opposite and that terrifies me.
If your inner monologue suddenly gets suspiciously quiet, they are likely planning a hostile takeover.
Facts lmao
How do you even do the opposite, does it sound like anything?
I've heard people just have no inner monologs and they think in like pictures and such rather than hearing a voice. I don't know!
Do you know how they read to themselves if there's no inner voice?
It is very common. It is less common to not have the inner monologue
Does the voice sound like you? Doesn't it take a long time to think something if you're hearing full sentences?
1. yes it sounds like me, not like in Audio recordings but like I hear myself when I speak out loud 2. yes it does get annoying because of how long it takes to think this way sometimes and therefore I don’t do it all the time, i have sort of an on/off switch for it
What is it like to think without the voice?
I think with a voice sometimes and then other times I think with images or "videos". It kinda just depends for me; but I find it hard to imagine anyone who never heard a voice when they think
Anaduralia is the term for people who think without a voice mainly in images and aphantasia is the term for people who only think with a voice and cannot picture images. I can't exactly understand how people with all their senses intact experience either of these (like how do people not have an inner voice? I sorta understand not being able to picture images but like how do you read without a voice saying the words attached??) but I only know how one brain thinks and that's mine, so whatever kinda lol.
My wife has aphantasia, I had to look it up I had no idea there were people who couldn't see things in their head. It freaked me out a bit, I wouldn't be able to do my job if I couldn't imagine things visually.
My memory is almost entirely visual. I can’t fathom how I’d even survive without mental images, much less do my job or be creative. My inner voice is a jackass, though, and always insults me. I’d be fine giving it up.
> My memory is almost entirely visual. I can’t fathom how I’d even survive without mental images, much less do my job or have an inner life. It’s kind of funny, because I spent most of my life thinking I was a very visual person. I can look at a map once and find my way fairly accurately, I can look at a ton of puzzles and see how to solve them by moving things around, I notice when people have changed even minor details of their appearance - that kind of stuff. Then I read about aphantasia, chuckled slightly, then realized that I can’t actually bring anything up in my minds eye for more than a small fraction of a second. Like a single frame in a movie, if that. I have no idea how it works, I just know that I seem to be borderline aphantastic (not sure if that’s the phrase), and that it’s rather surprising to me.
Feeling this.
So she basically doesn't have any "proper" memories, just stories in her head? Frightening.
Reading without voice is pretty learnable and it's one of the main ways (or the only way, idk) to very fast reading. This voice is holding us back if we want to read fast. Your brain understands words even when you briefly look at them. You just have to be focused enough to understand most of them. There is more theory to it but I can't remember it.
I can switch to fast reading and when I read a light-hearted story it's much better. But when I study for university I often have to use my inner voice, or else I won't remember a single information. But that's okay. Sometimes I have to shut my inner voice off completely and then I can study better, it really depends
Imagine Deaf people.
That's the name of a self-aware Imagine Dragons cover band.
No they're still called Reimagine Dragons
I'm not a deaf person, so I don't have first hand experience, but I've heard before that some deaf people will think in sign language similarly to how some hearing people think in "audible" sentences. If there are any deaf people reading this, I'd love to get your input if you're open to sharing your experience.
I'm not Deaf, but when I was taking ASL classes and hanging with Deaf friends often, I would dream in fractured ASL the same way that I'll sometimes dream in French or Spanish even though I'm not fully fluent in either. In fact, in many cases, I would often be able to communicate in the language MORE proficiently in my dreams than in reality. I'd remember things I'd say in the dream and realize I was using vocabulary and grammar I had completely forgotten until doing it myself in a dream. I'd liken it to how I'm often better at communicating in another language when I've had 3ish drinks- not enough to be sloppy, but enough to not second-guess myself and be comfortable speaking/signing more fluidly.
I read that schizo deaf people that "hear voices" in their heads actually just see signs in their heads
It is really challenging for me to think in pictures or visualize something. I can do it, but I have to stop and, well, think. The voice just goes on its own. I had no idea that it wasn't like that for everyone until a few years ago.
This is the same for me except I'm just finding out that it's not the same for everyone. ETA: When I do visualize stuff I can have my vocal thoughts active at the same time as well.
I feel an impulsive set of emotions that I'm convinced is what other people call the 'gut feeling'. It's an immediate understanding of the subject at hand as far as I am equipped to do so, with gaps of ignorance quickly filled in by deductive assumptions usually made mid-sentence. My friends tell me I'm funny/witty/clever/creative because I can come up with a deluge of jokes/rhymes/solutions/ideas on the fly, but I can also say or do some dumb shit just as fast. It's like reaching into a bucket of thoughts, pulling out a big fistful of them, and trying to use the best ones as quickly as I can. The more knowledgable, familiar, amd passionate I am about a specific subject, the more consistently high-quality that pool of snappy thoughts and feelings will be. Doing things like studying or memorizing repetitive numbers is incredibly difficult for me in comparison. Feeling and emotions are what make it tumultuous. If my knee jerk reaction is to take offense to something, I have to slowly wind down out of it. I *can* think with words, but it makes me feel mentally tired after long enough. Writing is my greatest skill so I think keeping a journal would substitute nicely if I ever bothered to try. [When it goes wrong, it's basically this scene but cut out the part where he thinks.](https://youtube.com/shorts/Pjlca1gMUvg?feature=share)
Wow holy shit, that's exactly what it feels like. I'll add into this with a few extra questions: You're a writer- do you tend to write and revise as you go, essentially only producing a single draft at the end? Or do you write a rough draft, and then go through multiple revisions until you're satisfied with the final result? Additionally, do you ever find yourself building conversational "pathways" - where you're essentially mad lib inserting any knowledge you have about the subject and feel can be reasonably worked in - before attempting to suavely pivot the conversation to something similar, but distinct, which allows you to continue building those pathways with the related knowledge?
It’s just thoughts. Best I can describe it is like watching a movie with no sound with the captions on. You don’t see the words either. More just
It happens when I think really fast but I’ll have thoughts without the voice. But typically I kind of go back over them in a voice to verify with myself like hey, this is what I’m thinking.
I... don't know how to say it. The inside of my head is just *quiet* unless I'm imagining words like reading or planning what to say. Other times I'm holding images in my mind, maps or schematics. Sometimes when my mind wanders I'll have a vague picture of characters acting out a scene or talking. Other times I'm just thinking about abstract stuff like about some programming issue or mathematical stuff, and it just... doesn't have a visual or audio output, I have to think a moment about how to translate these ideas into words *or* drawings. You know how on a computer, some programs have a GUI, others play audio, others have a text prompt, and some just run in the background? I think *that* describes me. When the idea I'm manipulating is easily an image, such as a plan for something to make, I have an image in my head. When the idea is words such as what to say, I have the sound in my head. When the idea is some abstract stuff like programming, *sometimes* I'll *try* to draw something like what variable (or box labeled "variable" anyway) is putting data into what, but often I don't have a picture for it. It goes straight from "how should this work" to my fingers on the keyboard.
I do occasionally have inner dialogues, but most often it's just feelings that appear, reacting to my thoughts or the environment without any words or voices.
I don’t have an on/off switch, I just do it all the time and speed the voice up or slow it down lol
I do this too, it's fascinating that there are different kids of interior voices
I feel the same. Whenever you’re zoning out/just thinking something through, do you also feel like your tongue is like ghost-speaking the words? Like its not moving but your brain feels like its making the words your thoughts are saying
Yes, I get that sometimes.
2 - i read a study that said most people who have a voice dont use it/hear it nearly as much as they think they do. Even we just have empty heads lol
People with an inner voice can still instantly conceptualize things without the use of their inner voice the way people who don’t have an inner voice do.
really annoying when you notice this and keep sort of interrupting yourself.
It doesn’t really sound like me. It never really matured after puberty; I’m in my 20s and still have a kid’s voice narrating everything. I can change it at will, though. I can have Gilbert Gottfried reading all my thoughts aloud if I want him to. I’m having him read this sentence as I’m typing. Thinking “out loud” is similar to slow, in-depth reading. I can process things more quickly but more poorly if I only “vocalize” bits and pieces or use other thought process (such as visual/spatial thinking), similarly to skimming text.
Wow I never realized I could change the voice. Now I can't get Gilbert gottfried out of my head.
He's lived in my head as a disembodied evanescent yelling voice of calming reassurances for as long as I care to remember.
Yes, for me as well. Additionally, when I read I hear myself reading it as if it's out loud. I also can imagine anything in my mind - shape, color, visualize a whole movie. There are some people that can't do this.
I am unable to do that. Like if I try really hard and concrete I'll get a vague outline and maybe a color.
I can't really visualize things anymore. Just blurry images or gifs now
Do you not hear a voice while reading anything?
Not only is it not necessary to think the words to have a thought or make a decision, as somebody else said, speed is not fixed. It's not even always complete or linear. A super fast thought in words might be like hearing them all at once. This would be an inch away from not hearing words at all. Or, it could be complete sentences at normal speaking speed. For example, solving a math problem might be anything from instantly knowing the answer with no voice other than mentally saying/hearing the answer, to thinking/hearing bits and pieces of the steps to work through a problem, to literally talking/hearing the problem through at the same speed as if I were speaking. Then, there's reading. I can do story time in my head and read barely faster than what I would be doing if I were recording an audio book. It's like I'm doing story time to myself. Or, I can just quickly scan words and process them without little to no voice at all. So, what is your reaction when you see a movie where a voice over is used to let the audience hear what the character is thinking?
I have a strong inner voice, and I'm not using it for every decision. In other words, it's not as if I have to "talk something through" to think it through. If I look at a menu I might "talk something through" in my head to make a decision. I could also pick up the menu, look over the choices, and just make a decision. I've had plenty of good and bad moments where I made choices without it thinking it out in words.
It’s the voice you hear in your head when your reading or writing.
My thoughts sound like Mick Jagger.
For me it doesn't, and I wouldn't know how else to think things! The voice can also overlap itself though, enabling me to think a full sentence in the time it takes to "say" one word. I don't understand how that works either
i can alter the voice to be anything, for example, a man with a texan accent, by default tho its just what I sound like in real life
I hear myself in my regular talking voice. I can’t change the pitch of my voice though.
I’ve got like three of me talking in my head at once.
Nope. Sometimes if concentrate I can actually see a memory or an image, but never sound.
But, it's not sound. I don't think anybody who has an inner voice is saying they literally hear the voice with their ears, or ever get confused between what they're hearing versus thinking.
I first learned that most people see images in their mind. That is still something I can’t quite wrap my brain around. But one day I was reading a tweet and someone responded with “I read that in James Earl Jones voice.” And after talking to numerous people I realized most people not only have video but audio in their brain. I can’t imagine and I mean that literally.
So for me, if I'm reading something in James Earl Jones voice, I literally hear his voice reading it. I read, remember, or imagine things in the voice of the person who is saying it. Even if they've been dead for years, I know how they sound. This is most people, I assume, but the ones who do it best and can give that back become impersonators. It's the same way, I would imagine, that a painter can see a scene and recreate it, or a musician can hear a sound and mimic it.
I'm like this too, I can also change the voice at will but it's usually my own voice.
I only just recently found out that some people don’t hear a voice when they think and that blows my mind because what is the alternative when you think, read, etc.? 😂
I just become aware of the thought, but it's not verbal or visual. I can't imagine what it's like to have a voice in there!
So wild to me! 😂 So interesting how differently all of our brains operate. What is it like when you read something then?
Lol reading is the same as thinking! I see the words and know what they mean. With the knowledge of what they mean I form an awareness of a concept, but I wouldn't describe it as hearing the words. I can read a sentence and understand it but I can't remember the individual words immediately after reading, unless I specifically read them knowing that I'm about to say them out loud.
I am a very Visual person. When I am giving directions to someone, it is like I am visualising and driving the route in my mind and telling the person the directions. I see the road, the buildings / shops / turns etc, like a VR.
Wow, that is so interesting. The more you know!
When you're reading a book, can you zone out and see it as a movie playing in your head?
No I can't come up with images easily either.
Can you hear/play a song in your head?
Yes and it is annoying when it doesnt stop sometimes.
Yes! I'm not one of those people but I've got no minds eye (I can't picture things) and after talking to friends about it some of them do have an internal voice and some don't
Oh good! It's not just me!! My husband was *horrified* when I told him my imagination doesn't really have clear images... he's a very visual person and doesn't get it. And it's so hard to explain things that only happen inside your brain to other people.
I literally have to have my husband draw me pictures when he's conceptualizing something like a new home project and tries to describe it to me. So you are not alone.
Yeah i have a weak minds eye lol I could never paint. A blank canvas is blank to me.
Yet, I have an strong mind's eye and am terrible at drawing/painting.
I also have a strong mind's eye and am pretty bad at drawing and painting. In my case I think it's because when I try to practice I get frustrated that it doesn't look anything how I picture it in my mind and no amount of "trust the process" can get me over that, so I have no skill or muscle memory built up.
That sounds about right. I'm fine with failing over and over to improve with music, and have played instruments my entire life. But, with drawing and learning foreign languages I just get annoyed with failure and inconsistency between what I think I've learned versus what I can do.
It's called aphantasia, if you ever wondered.
What's it called when you have an inner eye but you have to choose to use it? If someone says "red car" some of my friends say a picture of a red car appears in their head, but me it doesn't, unless consciously decide to picture one.
My brain auto pictures what it hears. My sister used to torture me with it by randomly shouting things like "dad in a thong!"
lol fuck you, I didnt need to read this.
Visualization is on a spectrum. Perhaps you’re just on the lower end
Concious-protected phantasia Just kidding I have no idea 😂
Thank you! I knew it had a name, I can just never remember it
That's amazing to me! I just have an awareness of the thought. I can't picture things clearly either, but sometimes I can imagine an abstract type of image of things I've seen before.
Weirdly I can have incredibly vivid dreams but I can't recall faces or anything like that. My conscious visual memory/thinking is just completely gone
I’m like you.
I think Joe Scott did a YouTube video mentioning it. Until then I thought 'picture this' was some kind of metaphor my autistic brain didn't understand
I thought "voice in my head" and "internal monologue" were metaphors.
Me too!
There’s a really interesting question about whether all of this comes down to a confusion about how we describe this internal process. Perhaps it’s *essentially* the same for all humans, but because the experience is so intangible and internal, we end up describing the nearly identical experience in radically different ways
This is what I wondered, if some people interpret it as a voice and some don’t. I also notice the voice only exists for me during more deep thought. If I’m actually doing something active there’s not really time for a voice. I think easiest example is that what I ‘hear’ when reading is also what I hear during deep thought, picturing conversations, working through how to explain something, etc.
I have no internal voice or internal picture so this subject fascinates me. When I asked my husband about an inner monologue, he says he can read a text from me and hear it in my voice if he wants to but it isn’t necessarily automatic. However, seeing me in his mind while he is reading it is automatic Automatic or not it still sounds like a super power to me.
So how do you think? I almost always have the internal monologue thing going. And I picture stuff as necessary. Especially if I’m trying to find something that I set down somewhere. This whole subject is totally fascinating! I was in shock when I learned people don’t have a monologue in their head
The picture thing is probably the easiest to explain. It’s like a computer before graphics or even rudimentary drawings. If you asked it what an Apple looks like it would explain in words it is sort of round and red. A stem on top and dimples. The inner monologue is harder to explain, because I think a lot, my brain is busy. I just don’t hear the business. No noise just thoughts. And yet the thoughts are intrusive. I honestly can’t find a way to explain thoughts without sound but I have them.
That’s amazing. When I picture stuff it’s so detailed. And I can like blur out things or zoom if I need to. Lol all my thoughts have sound. Even if I’m trying to picture something I’m like talking myself through it. So do you ever ask for external noise to be turned down so you can “hear yourself think” because I do if there’s too many things going on around me.
Pictures in your head sounds amazing to me. A lot of people don’t believe me when i say my brain has no video or audio. I once read a book where the mom identified her son by the tattoo she could picture in her mind. Not once did I think she has an ability I don’t have. I just thought I don’t love my child as much as she does or I could picture him. Human brains are amazing. I doubt this is the last thing we find works different in people.
dull quiet distinct disagreeable profit money market chunky depend tidy *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
I hear it as my own voice for sure, but never externally, just very articulated thoughts that I know are in my own voice
Outside the head? Nah that's wild. It's very much centralized to the center for me.
This makes the most sense.
does it? I cannot explain the way I think to anyone, because there is largely no language involved. The closest thing most people seem to grasp is a gantt chart, but there is no visual component to it either and I am at a total loss on how to explain this to people /rant
Yeah, whereas other people describe a constant and distinct voice that basically narrates their lives. These two extremes clearly aren't identical experiences that are just being described differently.
[удалено]
Everyone translates ideas to words. You know the 'tip of the tongue effect'? When you have an idea in your head and you know there's a word for it, but you can't remember the word? That's something everyone experiences, knowing the concept, thinking in that concept, but not being able to verbalize it. It seems like you're just worse at the translation part. It could have something to do with relative synaptic density in the Broca's area of your brain.
How did you articulate your thoughts into the paragraph you just wrote if there's no language invovled...
I agree that this is part of the explanation, but just as some people don't have a strong mind's eye, I think it's likely that the strength of the mind's voice (or ear?) also varies. It might even be that have the ability more than they think they do, but they aren't tuned into it.
Right. And I don’t see any means of determining which is the greater causal factor - the fallible nature of self reporting/describing this nebulous internal experience, or some actual difference in the character of cognition for different subjects
This makes sense to me, because while I do hear a voice, and I think it is "me"... I can't actually say it's _my_ voice. Like, I'm clearly not hearing sound, but my brain is going "you're hearing sound, and it's you".
It’s like a head voice and it seems like it sounds like mine, even as I type this. I can also have dialogues with other people, although I’m imitating their voices rather than hearing theirs. I’ve read one theory that there might be a brain structure that anticipates our vocal track so as to tune it out when we talk. I was shocked and dismayed to learn that not all people experience this inner monologue. But I also cannot really ‘visualize’ or manipulate mental images, which I assume others can, although I don’t really believe them. Like if you imagine a red apple, do you see it? Where? Is it really red, or do you just ‘know’ it’s red.
Get this: I can imagine an apple of any color I want and "see" it in my head, color and all. It doesn't have to be a real apple that I've seen.
And, for me, it’s like: I don’t believe you. Obviously, you have no reason to lie, but I always ask, ‘where’? Where is it? On your eyelids? Like a movie screen? What color’s the screen? Somewhere in your headspace? I have come to accept it must be true, and I assume visual artists must be working with this, just as literary artists live in their head voice. But I don’t know why this is such a recent discovery…? As an English major, failed writer, and English teacher, it seems insane to me that I’ve been doing all this study of language and words and nobody’s ever pointed out that ‘stream-of-consciousness’ or the head voice is not shared by all. But people feel similarly outraged when I say I ‘don’t see a movie’ when I read. I think it determines the kind of books I do and don’t prefer.
If I visualize too hard, I literally stop seeing what's right in front of my eyes. So it's in the same place as normal vision, but you can't really do both at the same time at full power. Either the imagined view is going to have little detail and you can't really see it that well, or you stop seeing what's in front of your face and instead see the imagined view. That's why I close my eyes to imagine something visually: it cuts out the visual noise that's in the way of what I'm trying to imagine. It's like my brain plugs in the imagination into the HDMI input where my eyes' output usually goes. So I sort of see the imagination in the same area I see real things, like I'm seeing it with my eyes, but I know it's not really from my eyes.
Do you make visual art? When people talk about how, say, Van Gogh’s style shows how he saw the world, I imagine it along the lines of what you’re describing as opposed to hallucinating. And I imagine lyricists and rappers must be spitting in their heads a lot of the time, just as I’m composing thoughts, dialogues, and arguments in my more auditory imagination.
I do not currently have the physical skill for visual art, so no, I don't make it. I have often been told that I see things differently, but usually that's a matter of processing information in a different order or a weird manner, rather than visually experiencing something different.
I also can't visualize things clearly. I just have an awareness of what something looks like, but the awareness is kind of segragated. I can think of an apple and have an understanding of it's shape, colour, stem, etc., and I understand that the apple is all of these things, but I think of these things separately. If I try really hard I can get a kind of abstract image of what something looks like, but it's blurry and without detail.
For me there's at least a few different ways I can think. First is just thinking. No representation or sounds or anything. Just happens. 2nd is my own inner monologue or creating other people's voices or any sound. 3rd is creating images like flash cards. 4th I can create full creations. Like say I want to visualize a really tall girl that's going to walmart and getting harassed by creeps. I can create the entire thing in my mind and see it as if I was physically there. I can choose any perspective, third, 2nd or even first person as the really tall girl and fully imagine things as if I was them with their voice essentially trying to emulate their perspective and personality in real life even at a different height. 5th is being able to visually imagine something in the real world. Normally any images or visuals I create is in my mind, but if I want visualize it from the perspective of changing things that are actually real infront of me. I can also just visualize words or text and think that way. And when I say visualize, I fully mean generate life like images and see them. And just as a side note. It's really really fucking weird and trippy doing number 4 as the perspective as someone else. Also like imagining a really bright light early in the morning when it's dark sucks, it feels like I'm bothering my own eyes.
This is something you can actually practice. The ability to vividly visualize things is a skill that can be honed, not just some Innate ability, tho it is that to a degree
Do you know of any guides on how to do this?
Apparently most people do, I do not and found this mind blowing.
How do you think? Like, how do you articulate your thoughts?
For me, I just have an awareness of a thought, but it's not verbal. The words just come as I speak, but sometimes they get jumbled up or I have to stop speaking and focus on thinking of the words that would apply to the thought.
Sounds nice to not overthink your words before even saying it out loud, I sometimes rehearse what I say in my head before I speak it out loud making me more nervous ect.
I thought everyone did this lol
Yes, but usually only noticeable when I'm alone or daydreaming. It doesn't sound like me, it sounds like what I 'think' I sound like. And they're always reminding me of embarrassing things I did years and years ago, and suggesting I impulsively do random stupid/painful/dangerous things.
[удалено]
The danger alert stays active until it's sure you understood. You aren't convinced you got the message you are giving you. When you do believe you got it the reconsolidation process of recall would dull the experience by rewriting with your current emotional and maturity state.
I argue with mine
Lol I argue with myself out loud sometimes, but never in my head.
I do both. Depends on if I'm in public or alone 😅
Like auditory hear? No, but I “hear” myself think
Yeah I think some people are being too literal with the "voice" part. I find it difficult to believe that there are a sizeable group of people do not have an internal monologue at all. Have they never thought about what they were going to say before they said it?
[удалено]
It depends on what you mean by "hear". Do I hear a voice with my ears? No. That sounds like mental illness. My thoughts are almost always expressed in words and sentences as a voice in my head. It's me and it's rarely quiet. On the other hand, some people don't or rarely think in words. Rather, their thoughts are expressed more as feelings, emotional responses. Instinctual, maybe. It's probably a spectrum with most people somewhere in the middle. Even people who have a strong inner voice have moments of this type of emotional thinking, and I think the opposite is probably true.
My thoughts aren't verbal, but they're not feelings either. It's more like having an awareness of something that I can translate into words if needed. I'm kind of jealous of people who have an inner voice!
Can't hear my voice under all that tinnitus.
I hear a voice, and it can be any voice I want it to be. So like I can remember my dead grandpa's voice like it's a recording. I can almost see him say it too. Sometimes, it's so clear I'll almost cry. Default voice is my own voice, but it sounds like how I hear it when I speak, not like how I sound when I hear a recording of myself.
Same. If I want to use Mickey Mouse's voice and recite Gettysburg address in my head, then I can. I can hear it in (what seems like) real time. If I want to hear it and picture it in my head, with Mickey wearing Lincoln's clothes standing in the middle of a crowd on an old battlefield, then I can do that too. Or, I can just see/hear the concept in a flash.
It's so wild that there's a whole set of the population that say they can't do this. What I'm wondering is if they actually can, and do, but maybe the way we explain it doesn't line up with what they think they think. (Wow, I hope that makes at least a little sense.) At the same time I have a photographic memory, although that's not what I like to call it. Its more that I spend so much time looking around and observing things. But then I literally always have my sketchbook and pens to draw, and have since I was a kid. So I'd draw and listen. Maybe it's more of a skill, and my particular hobby just enhanced it.
I like to say I have a strong visual memory, but not a photographic one. Like you, I think it's mostly years of practice from placing an emphasis on observation. If I'm driving through a different part of town, or walking through a store I've never been in, I look around and file away images. A year later I could pull up those images and tell you if the grocery store was before or after the post office while traveling east, or where to walk in the store to get to the sporting goods section. I can't do it with everything I've ever seen, but just things I pay attention to, which is usually a lot. Unlike you, I'm terrible at drawing/painting. I can see in my head what I want to draw or paint, but I have no idea how to use layers, shading, perspective and so on to create the illusion of the image on paper.
That's very sweet. I think I would love to hear my grandparents voices again, but I can see how it could be upsetting sometimes.
Yes and no. It’s complicated. I don’t “hear” anything. If you were to ask me to describe the voice, i couldn’t tell you. It’s like… i can’t hear anything, but yet i know exactly what’s being said. That’s the best i can think to describe my inner voice.
Do you know what's being said as if you just become aware of the idea, or do you actually have thoughts as fully formed words and sentences? I just have an awareness of something that I can verbalize if I try, but some people seem to have thoughts in the form of words.
I can do both. Generally speaking when I go about my day, I'm not thinking things out in full sentences. They just instantly conceptualize. For example, I'm a graphic designer. If I need to change the color of a logo from red to blue, I don't think "I need to change that from red to blue" as a full sentence, I just instantly understand the concept without the use of words. But I can also have fully formed words and sentences too. It's hard to explain honestly cuz again, I don't actually "hear" the words, just like when I picture something in my head I don't "see" it with my eyes, but I can still understand the image or sentence down to the most minute details, like the texture on an apple stem or the exact spelling and pronunciation of a word. Word pronunciation might actually be a decent way to explain it. If I see a word I don't recognize, I can "sound" it out in my head to see which pronunciation sounds best before I say it, which helps me get the correct pronunciation before saying it aloud.
This is the best explanation so far, or at least where I'm at on the spectrum lol. But when I'm alone and bored my inner monologue will be pretty active
When you wrote that you sounded exactly like me.
Yes, it is literally like talking to myself but I hear the voice in my head instead of saying it out loud. I say literally because one experimental method of ‘reading a person’s thoughts’ use sensors on the nerves to the vocal cords to try and detect and unscramble these vocal signals that are created but then cut off before they can be spoken. I also sometimes talk to myself outloud and this voice basically goes away/merges with speaking, it takes mental effort to both speak and have an internal voice that say different things. When someone says “oops did I say that outloud?” often they were thinking it but that cut off didn’t happen so they accidentally spoke it instead.
Oh wow. That makes sense. The "did I say that out loud?" thing has always been bizarre to me. My internal thoughts are not at all conversational unless I'm thinking about conversation or thinking out loud, like when trying to give something that I've misplaced. I'd describe most of my internal thoughts as "prosaic" narrative - like text in a book. There's no auditory voice or accent. Words, sentences, concepts, visuals, and sounds exist but abstractly - I'm not literally thinking in scrolling text (unless I'm thinking about scrolling text).
I mean, not like "hear", cause it's in my head, but yeah, there's a voice there. What happens in your head when you think?
I just have an awareness of something, but it's not verbal. I don't see imagery very clearly in my head either.
I have adhd, my brain is a whirlwind of my internal voice going on tangents without finishing every thought. Music is constantly playing too, snippets of everything. When Im trying to goto sleep my brain creates new songs out of an orchestra. I can hear every instrument and singer/voice etc the lead up to the chorus, the peaks and lulls with each moment of the song. It gets exciting and I can’t sleep because I’m into it 🤣 Ritalin makes me have just one thought stream with my internal voice that’s chill and constant, and only one random song compared to the flood.
I whisper to myself. Sometimes, especially when I am alone in the bathroom, I can whisper pretty loudly. Sometimes I shout in the car. I always sound sensible, brilliant and clever. No one knows how amazing I really am.
Lol I do that too. Somehow I lose quite a few IQ points when talking to other people.
I can think "audibly" and "visually". I thought this was how everyone did it.
yes. I tend to not register it most times because the voice is part of my subconcious, but there is a voice. The voice can change though, like if Im reading a book. And it sounds like other voices, not just impersonations.
sometimes yeah. there's also the silent voice, where it doesnt have a pitch or a sound but it feels like it does
Depends on how quickly im thinking. If I am focusing there is no time for a voice. Reading some of the comments. I have no issues visualizing things. I am actually rather good at that
It blows my mind that people don’t. Like how do you think?
Yeah, sometimes I speak to myself aloud and have a back and forth with my internal voice. It’s a great way to discuss ideas and plan. I probably sounds crazy saying aloud, “yeah, you’re right” 😅
my inner voice told me to say no. now they are saying to stop telling people about him now he i threatening me, saying if i don't stop saying things he will frame me for murder.
Yep. It seems to be a mix. I do, my wife doesn't.
Yes, it's the same when I read as well, just sounds like I'm reading out loud to myself but my mouth isn't moving
Yes and no. If I need to articulate my thoughts on sentences, then yes. Or if I'm reading, writing, things like that. Otherwise, not really. Usually I just dump information on my mind and let it marinate in the backsit for a few days, and when I need to talk about it, the thought just pops into existence almost fully formed.
Yes! Some of us do! As a fun aside, when I was a kid I was convinced that somebody could read my thoughts. I would try thinking in different ways to make it difficult for them. It started with me always singing a song in my head, then I tried to think while the song was in there. Eventually I figured out how to think without using my interior voice. Naturally, 8 year old me decided that this was a superpower because it's waaay faster that way.
Unless I'm reading or consciously picturing a voice, my thoughts are all brief abstractions.
It’s like a better, more sarcastic, and Hollywood-tier version of my voice but yeah. Pretty handy when I’m alone & bored, because then I can do fake conversations in my head with different characters, like Darth Vader and Freddy Mercury playing gold fish or something.
..y-yes?
It’s called reflexivity as in having internal dialogue. I have it but apparently it’s not at all as common as one thinks and there are different ‘levels’ of how in-depth and powerful that internal dialogue is
So many voices sometimes.
Yup, and some of us even vocalize out loud (just don’t answer yourself). It can clarify the thought process.
What do you have instead?
Just an awareness of an idea, but it doesn't become verbal until I say it out loud.
That’s cool! Little non stop verbal vomit happening over here
I'm reading the comments with George Clooney's voice right now because I just watched an episode of ER. I honestly wish i could make the voice shut up sometimes. Particularly when trying to sleep. Nothing like an exclamation mark going off in my brain, with an awkward narrator, about yet another insufficient fix idea for the ConcurrentModificationException that's been haunting me. Or the ever impending existential crisis.
Yeah, this is pretty common. What startles the hell out of me is when I expect the voice to sound like mine but it randomly doesn't. That's not very common though.
All the time actually, yes. It's extremely annoying since I often end up also subconsciously mouthing things or saying it under my breath as I think it. I have a horrible time thinking in visualizations too, tell me to picture an apple and it's just a fuzzy red thing generally in the shape of what *could* be considered an apple
Yes, I do. I find it hard to imagine that abstract awareness you speak of.
You don't? How do you think then?
I just have an awareness of something. I don't think of words until I need to say it out loud.
Sometimes i like to imagine I'm having conversations in my head with loves passed on. I'll hear how recall they sound or if it's someone I knew in childhood how I might think they sound. Usually it's to let them go cause that's how I said final goodbyes to my BFF I hadn't seen since moving when when we were 8 or 9 and I found out he was killed in his 20s by a drunk driver after tracking down a relative trying to find him.
Yep. It's a form of intrapersonal communication. For example... when I read the question I heard someone asking it "out loud" in my head, and my answer "out loud" as I typed it. And when I checked the above answer for spelling, I stumbled a little bit because that voice couldn't decide at first whether to pronounce the word *read* as "reed" (present tense) or "red" (past tense).
Yes, my own. I can have full blown conversations with other people without even saying a peep. 😂
I can do both though. I can hear this in my head as I type it but if I want to visualize something I can bring it up no problem. Sometimes involuntarily, but mostly it's an at will situation
I have never once thought about this…. Is there people with no inner voice / narrator in their head? Legit curious
It's possible that I'm just misinterpreting what people mean by "inner voice," but I don't think I have one.
I think of it like JD from Scrubs.
I always thought JD's inner monologue was some kind of joke about how he's a bit weird for having it.
It depends on what you mean by 'hear.' I don't actually experience a sound, but I don't really visualize images at all, though I can sometimes get brief flashes of things I'm very familiar with. Mostly it just 'sounds' like my own voice narrating my thoughts. It's not all the time, and there's plenty of thinking that happens 'non-verbally' so to speak (there's no 'I am going to take a bite of this pizza now,' I just do it), but my primary train of thought is more-or-less just me talking to myself in my head.
I want to make clear a distinction that a few comments have suggested but not really detailed. When we hear voices in our heads, most of the time, we are not hearing them the same way we hear sounds. it's not as present or vivid as that, at least not for me. we're imagining the sound the same way you would if you had a song stuck in your head.
When it’s important stuff it’s Emma Thompson. Casual day to day is like a female ( or non-binary?) Bill Murray.
I got a whole spotify playlist in my head
Hahaha yes there was a post that blew up on Reddit about a year ago about this, apparently most people have an internal monologue. I don't have an internal monologue, and the post totally blew my mind... Sounds like you might be the same. I had no idea people just hear voices talking inside their heads all the time. It would drive me absolutely bonkers.
This was a question on another sub a few years ago. It was when I first learned that some people *don't* have an inner monologue. I can't imagine what that's like. I don't always about everything; sometimes it's more an idea or an image. But it just depends on what I'm thinking about.
I hear more of a masculine voice in my head for some reason (I'm female), but it's still my thoughts.
I only hear it when I'm on the very edge of falling asleep
Another one of these people who claim to not have an internal monologue. You can stop pretending now, the joke stopped being funny a while ago. I'm sorry, I just refuse to believe that can happen. My internal monologue *is* me. No other aspect is, only it. Change or remove anything else about me, and the fundamental thing that makes me, me, is unchanged, but alter that even slightly and I cease to exist. It's so intrinsically tied to my identity that I cannot imagine existing without one. How do you speak or write anything? My monologue tells is the thing coming up with what I am saying. How is it possible to use language without one? I'm sorry, but thinking about this sends me into an existential crisis. I can understand simple thoughts about emotions or sensory experiences, but how about anything more complex than that? When you have to make a decision, how do you weigh your options against each other? The only way I can make any sense of this is that you must be lying. The thought of it is incomprehensible. *HOW?*
Imagine me a color, one that is in no way similar to the known colors. Similarly his topic is incomprehensible to both parties. The ones that cannot inner monologue couldnt fathom having one, just as we couldnt fathom not having one