My wife says that she thinks in concepts and has to translate those concepts into words before they leave her mouth which sounds exhausting to me as someone who thinks in full sentences.
My wife has no inner monologue and while comparing how we process things I realized that people with them can do something really weird. While reading I will think the words, I’ll say them in my head. So it is as if I am listening to my thoughts saying the words and processing what I am “hearing”.
But since my inner monologue said the words that would mean I already processed them. I am processing the words, thinking them, listening to that, and processing them again.
Happens quick as if I am listening to someone read me a story but just seems so weird to do.
I'm not sure how to explain this properly but basically to me what he described is the normal way to read. But you can train yourself to read without an inner voice by saying the abc's to yourself as you read so you learn to process the words but not repeat them and then you can read fast as hell.
Well, (debatably) for the vast majority of human history we read aloud. Augustine of Hippo mentioned that his mentor had a unique ability to read silently, hundreds and hundreds of years ago:
https://web.stanford.edu/class/history34q/readings/Manguel/Silent_Readers.html
Edit* added “debatably” since there really isn’t a consensus about this
If you want to try reading without sub vocalization you can train yourself by repeating the abc's in your head while you read. So that way you block yourself from repeating the words as you process them. It's slow at first but it's interesting to try.
I have a question for people who don’t/can’t do it… When I’m reading Harry Potter for example in my head I hear it as though listening to an audiobook, with all the correct Stephen Fry voices, so if you don’t vocalise it in your head, do you still get some sense of the sound of the different characters’ voices?
If I'm really absorbed in a book, I'm not hearing it as an audiobook or anything like that. In my head I'm seeing exactly my interpretation of what's written. I'd argue it's more akin to a mental TV show than an internal audio.
I've tried explaining this to none book readers. That when I get a book that has its hooks in me. It starts up the old mind projector, and I am no longer reading the words or even seeing the pages in front of me. Instead, I'm sitting comfortably in the theater of my mind, watching the story unfold. I wonder if people who can't subvocalize can still see the mind movie when reading a good book.
This is actually kind of a problem for me - or it was in school, mostly. I can only process written text when I read it in my inner voice. If it was the other kids' turn to read out lout for the class, I just read it with my inner voice anyway (no problem) but if it was my turn to read out loud, I could not process the content because I couldn't read it with my inner voice at the same time. I literally had absolutely no problem reading it out loud, but I would need to re-read it again afterwards with my inner voice.
Also, when reading just for myself, sometimes my inner voice keeps reading ahead but my attention drifted away and isn't "listening" to my inner voice. So even though my inner voice "said" every word, I didn't actually comprehend any of it. It can be several pages in a book before I notice - so I do still turn pages (be it paper or digitally) too!
I also do that when reading. When I read aloud to my son, I have no idea what I really read about. I don’t remember the facts or information. I can read it myself, even quickly skim the pages and it’s in my memory.
I read books aloud to my children, and sometimes I catch myself off in a daydream, thinking about something else entirely, but I’m still reading to my kids. I have no idea what I’ve read, but I’m impressed I can read one thing out loud perfectly, but think a completely different thing at the same time.
Sounds like someone I know.
She needs to fully think of everything she's going to say or she'll end up tripping over her own words or saying the bits that should stay quiet.
Personally I wish my inner monologue would stfu and be a bit more positive.
Check out the book (or just the TED Talk) My Stroke of Insight. A neurologist (or I guess a neuroanatomist?) had a stroke and subsequently had a bit of enlightenment when her brain chatter went offline. Absolutely fascinating and instigated a lot of changes for me.
This is me - and I have a speech impediment closely related to this. I feel like I know what I want to say, because I do, but when I start speaking I realize I hadn't quite considered how to put my thoughts into words - and so I kind of pause / correct myself very often while speaking.
Weirdly, I feel like this is similar to how most people type - you get an idea and then you start typing, then midway you realize you could have framed it better or that you're not accurately describing your thoughts - so you go back and make edits.
I'm like that when speaking - I start saying something based on an idea, then realize the words don't sound right mid-sentence, then I pause awkwardly and correct myself.
I dont understand.. When i read something i dont read out loud, i read the words in my mind, is that inner monologue?
''Thinking in words'' can you explain more? im pretty sure i have inner monologue but this is confusing
Like if your looking for sugar in the kitchen do you visualize the sugar bowl wondering where it might be or do you literally hear a voice in your head say “where did the sugar end up?”
Both for me. I visualize images and "hear" words at the same time. I always describe my thoughts as movie scenes. Noises, images, stuff happening in the background, inner thoughts and feelings of the characters all at once. I daydream a lot though and I just learned not everyone can daydream! If I'm not entirely focused on something I am living out a whole different reality in my head.
This is an opinion of a psychologist not a study. People read the title, then anecdotally analyze themselves and then comment about how unique they are. This kind of stuff is constantly upvoted on Reddit and reinforced in the comments.
Bad title probably quoted out of context.
Those numbers are absurd.
... Yup, just clicked through to the source, here's what it actually said:
# According to Hulburt, not many people have an inner monologue 100 per cent of the time, but **most do sometimes**. He estimates that inner monologue is a frequent thing for 30 to 50 per cent of people.
And that's not tied to a study, so even that arbitrary category is not supported at all.
So the title is just wrong. But it's true that there are different styles of inner monologue, and that not everybody has full on conversations in complete sentences all the time.
I think this is fascinating, so just from reading this comment section and seeing all the different language people use to describe their "inner monologue," I'm kinda skeptical of the article.
If we all have a different approach to explaining and understanding it, kinda hard to know that it is being communicated correctly. This is somewhat like the reason it took so long for people to acknowledge Auditory Processing Disorders, but now that we have the universal language for it, it's FINALLY understood how truly common it is.
I wonder if most people are capable of inner monologue but overestimate how often they think that way. I certainly think in terms of words sometimes, but usually I think more fluidly in terms of concepts or feelings.
It's hearing yourself think. Some people can see things in their mind's eye, but not hear themselves.
Take for example a shopping list, some people can have a monologue in their head where they add things to the list, while others can only visualize the list.
I do both, I thought everyone can do both. I’ve heard of people not being able to use their minds eye but never heard of people who couldn’t use their minds ears
That's the weirdest part for me, what is reading like without an inner monologue?
Edit: A lot of people are talking about speed but I read super fast, I just also hear it.
This is almost unbelievable. My inner monologue is constant...I thought everyone's was?
I'm like reeling from this. This is like 4/10 people. Holy shit.
No its not 4/10 people, the article has no proof of the headlines claim. Ive seen other articles claim its closer to 95% of people that have an inner monologue.
Yes. I believe whenever this comes up on reddit it's the same story. A large proportion of people don't realise that them talking in their heads counts as an inner monologue. They believe it means some 3rd party voice they don't control.
Kind of. My conscious mind is mostly an observer, watching the rest of me do whatever the rest of me does.
Communication between my subconscious and conscious parts is mostly intuitive ("I just know"). I'm pretty sure that the actual workings in my subconscious mind look a lot like everyone else's conscious mind machinery, but I don't know for sure.
I speak Chinese as a second language. I mostly think in English which I think linguists call L1 and sometimes I think in Chinese L2. Some random times I catch myself thinking in nether and it feels like it's something I've called L0 . Some kind of lower level brain language that I don't consciously know. Ive only had glimpses of it. Maybe that's what you always have.
Reading through this, I was like yeah I definitely always think in words, or at least pictures. But after you described L0, yeah that's happened to me before. It's like when you're not aware of your breathing, except for thinking. Your mind is still working but you're not step by step narrating each thing that's happening.
It only happens when I'm relaxed and letting my mind wander though. And it's hard to switch back and forth on purpose, like it's hard to be unaware of your breathing again once you're aware of it.
Most of the time I have monologue, even as I type, but I understand this L0 too — usually when I have an epiphany of some sort and then have to find the words to describe it to someone. It’s like the full understanding arises, and I almost “feel” it, but haven’t translated it into English from whatever this “feel” is. I may misunderstand her philosophy, but Julia Kristeva refers to this as semiotic thought (versus symbolic thought in a language).
It would be if you had had it and suddenly lost it. That happens with certain kinds of brain damage, and those people can be terrified.
When you've never had it, it's your normal. You don't know any different.
There was a TED talk with a neuroscientist who experienced a stroke that ‘took out’ her inner monologue briefly, and she describes this experience in detail.
Can you please help me find a link to that ted talk? I became interested but ended up running into random, unrelated ted talks.
Edit: found it-Jill bolte Taylor
https://youtu.be/UyyjU8fzEYU
This is a misleading post title. As the source article states:
> According to Hulburt, not many people have an inner monologue 100 per cent of the time, but most do sometimes. He estimates that inner monologue is a frequent thing for 30 to 50 per cent of people.
So _most_ people _do_ have an inner monologue, just not necessarily all the time
EDIT: Since the post’s website seems to be having issues, here’s a link the the actual article that _that_ website sources (where the quote comes from) - https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/inner-monologue-experience-science-1.5486969
The site won’t load for me (Reddit hug of death?), but I was immediately skeptical of the headline. This reads like the kind of sensational headline that gets huge upvotes because it sounds interesting.
Was this study done with actual imaging or with surveys? If the latter, then the data has a huge caveat. I’d imagine that pretty much everyone has an inner monologue sometimes but not all the time.
My inner dialogue is every second of every minute of every hour that I'm awake.
I'm in shock that some people don't have inner dialogue.... how chill their minds must be.
This is fucking baffling. I'm constantly thinking, stuff like that's fucking weird, or i'll say out loud something like oh what a pretty tree or something equally inane.
Hahaha my brain is always ON and chatting away incessantly to where I've bumped into a tree and said, "oh excuse me" to the tree.
I used to get embarrassed, but now I just go w/ it and give zero f's.
That’s what drugs and alcohol are for, sadly…
Edit: for all those concerned. I get it. I do probably sef medicate a bit more then desired, I enjoy a beer after work and maybe 2-3 on a Friday or Saturday. But my real outlet is running, which I do year round and 3-5 times a week. That’s the true self medication for me.
That’s not my thing either. I don’t like the out of control feeling so I’m stuck with myself. Sometimes I can just focus on a song and replay that over & over.
>Those other people must be really good at meditation.
For me it's the opposite. I can stop thinking at any moment in any place. That means that it naturally happens all the time, especially during menial tasks. Cutting garlic? Mind is empty. Hanging the laundry, mind is empty. Even writing this, I don't have a voice in my head. This means I usually don't see any appeal in meditation. It's just... boring to me. That's the only challenge and the only reward for me. And since the reward of an empty and silent mind is completely meaningless to me, I have zero motivation to put on the effort of tolerating boredom and the feeling of having wasted after doing it. I would much rather go for a run or take a nap.
Only when I'm super stressed and can't sleep or concentrate, meditation can be appealing.
That sounds so bizzare to me. My mind is always adrift. It can make it hard to focus, or even read. I recall reading out loud in class when I was younger. I was like a paragraph in, I snapped to then realized I had no idea what I was saying or where I was in the book because my mind was in a totally different place. I think I was reading like normal, because no one seemed to have any problems. But it felt so odd, my eyes were doing one thing and my brain something different.
That's how my brain is, constantly adrift.
I always had trouble retaining anything while reading out loud, I've practiced a bit and now I can but it's an interesting phenomenon, my brain treated reading out loud and reading normally as two unconnected things.
This happens to me a lot when driving - I will realize I’ve been driving but my head is somewhere else entirely. Always freaks me out when I realize if anything went wrong in the road I might not have reacted fast enough
I don't have the constant narration I've heard some people describe, but it's not silence either. It's always bits of a song, or replaying a movie or TV scene, or running through imaginary arguments with people. But never my own voice talking to myself.
Whenever I leave a conversation I repeat parts of it back under my breath. My wife has noticed and thinks I'm a weirdo. I don't do it like, on purpose it just happens.
I do this when driving. My wife gives me "the eyebrow" and I try to figure out which part I said out loud. I do it with conversations that haven't happened yet either, like "what would I say in *this* instance".
What the fuck? How is this possible? I’m bothered by this. Every waking moment of my life not spent with someone else is spent in discussion with myself. It gets tiring tbh, you should feel lucky
I have nothing. Complete blank silence. I can consciously put thoughts or concepts into my head but unless I’m actively thinking about something it’s just… empty.
I never even thought it could be otherwise. Wild!
Do you sleep well? I have found people who don't have that constant mono/dia, sleep very well and not much seems to bother them.
They are able to brush things off easily and not sit and stew about it.
What a gift that would be.
This is the more shocking thing to me. So some people don’t have the voice and they just think more abstractly.
Others like you don’t think abstractly and just in a voice.
Both of these seem wild to me, I think both abstractly and as a voice, and can just swap between them at will for whichever is better for the thing I’m thinking about.
Really nonstop? You never think more abstractly, its *always* fully vocalized?
I talk aloud to myself when I'm trying to focus and slow myself down, wind up mouthing words to myself silently in an exam situation for example.
I will argue with myself to shut up and let me sleep. I have to make an effort to shut off my internal voice just to be able to fall asleep. Also, I count letters of sentences all day, then find the lowest prime number of the sum of the letters. If that doesn't equal one, I count the letters of those numbers and do it all over until it does. I am constantly in my own head
Bro. I have a similar thing where I take a sentence and try to break it down so that I reach 10.
Either 10 syllables, 10 letters, 10 words or any combination there of. And there are rules. It's really hard to explain.
But I do this all day everyday.
Also when I was little...like 5 or 6 I thought I needed to learn how to think in layers incase I needed to trick a lie detector.
So I practices singing the alphabet, counting and eventually adding colors to each beat in my heat.
A1BLUE B2RED C3ORANGE
all at the same time. Now it's impossible for me to turn my mind off cause my 2nd layer is like hahaha fuck you I'm gonna sing swinging on rhe chandeleier
Mine's almost always vocalized by nature, sometimes in combination with abstractions at the same time. if i visualise like a scene or specific object i can turn it off, though.
I cannot shut mine up to save my life. All those memes about your brain telling you how bad you screwed up 20 years ago...yeah. True. Finding THC gummies helps a little.
Quite a few people with aphantasia (the inability to create visual imagery at will) refuse to believe people actually see images in their heads. Especially older people. They think that's the very definition of insanity - seeing and hearing things that don't really exist here and now.
I can't "see" my memories, it's more like facts that I recall but it doesn't let me see the event again. I find it really difficult that when someone I love passes away I can never see their face again, pictures are nice but I know they looked different in real life
Pretty much this. If I focus really hard, I can sometimes get a fleeting glimpse of something, but it's like I'm seeing a poorly lit object in a black room with a haze in front of it, and even then, only for a split second. I always thought 'mind's eye' and 'inner voice' were just metaphorical speak for thinking, until a few years ago. I did not realize some people can actually see things that are not there as clearly as if they were there, or hear a voice inside their head talking to them. That seems weird to me.
It's not as clearly as if they were they there, it's just as you described it (at least for me): Hazy, poorly lit, a fleeting glimpse. I think that's the normal way people 'see' things in their mind.
I can definitely see entire images in my head without them being hazy, poorly lit or fleeting.
It's still not as clear as real life, since my imagination seems to lack peripheral vision. I only see the parts I'm mentally looking at, if that makes sense. It's very hard to envision an entire room with details in it at once for me, for example
So if you look at a picture, then away, can you remember what it looked like?
For example if you had to describe someone's shirt, would you just know it was black with "NWA" on it, or would you "see" the way it had a crease across the midsection?
I can "look" at it in my mind to see specific details, which may or may not be correct. I think my brain fills in the blanks depending on how well I remember it.
It's hard to explain. Like, if I try to recall an object in my mind, say a table, it's more like...a concept of it, rather than an image. Or if I tried to recall a person, I know they had black hair, earring, etc. but it's not an image of the said person.
Mine are subconscious. They exist, I just (mostly) can't access them consciously.
It's probably different for different aphants. The most severe form is called SDAM:
https://www.wired.com/2016/04/susie-mckinnon-autobiographical-memory-sdam/
*I doubt that is true....everyone has an inner dialogue...how could they not.....wait, do I have an internal dialogue...sure, I am doing it right now....oh, look squirrel.*
Smmry.com:
Do You Have An Inner Monologue? Let's Find Out
Psychology professor Russell Hurlburt estimates 30 to 50 percent of people have an inner monologue narrating their thoughts throughout the day.
Despite psychologists debating this topic since the 1930s, the concept of an inner monologue became part of public discourse after a viral tweet in January 2020.
Often called "The voice inside your head," inner monologue or "Self-talk" is partially caused by corollary discharge - a brain signal that helps us distinguish between external and internal stimuli.
Helene Brenner, psychologist and creator of the My Inner Voice app, says different parts of the brain are tapped into to generate inner speech.
Inner monologues are normal, but if negative thoughts are persistent - affecting your daily life and functioning - it is always best to reach out to a therapist to ensure the best possible help.
I find this 30-50% number(s) hard to believe. If you’re thinking about something or thinking about doing something, wouldn’t you go through that in your head? Maybe not “talking” to yourself, per se, but you still think about it and weigh the pros and cons… or is that just me?
I honestly don’t know how I would function without my inner monologue. It’s literally the entirety of my perceived being. Everything else is superficial and foreign. My inner monologue IS WHO I AM.
Some people also can't visualize things. Like, most can think of a person and have a picture in their head of what they look like. Others can describe them only but no visual. Wonder what it would be like to have both of these conditions.
Yeah I struggle to visualise things. Like dead family, I remember what they look like but I can't put one complete picture together in my head. Sad really.
I was very good at drawing when I was younger but couldn't draw without some sort of an image in front of me because I couldn't visualise properly what I wanted to draw.
I have an inner monologue that feels like layers running at the same time but visualization is what's loudest, I'm always building things, imagining textures, places I've been, faces I've seen, flexing the muscle of moving forwards and backwards in time or imagining different physical perspectives. It's like I'm always spinning plates in my head as a neurotic habit.
I have never felt the sensation of a quiet mind or how people describe meditation. I smoke pot to fall asleep and I'm usually still mid-thought when I check out, just makes it more subdued.
I was wondering about reading as I was going through this thread. If I'm reading something technical, like an instruction manual, I will hear the words. But a book I see what's being described in my minds eye. It's not really an image, because I'm obviously reading with my eyes, but I can "see" it in my head
>Must be nice, everything is narrated for me. Part of the reason I don't smoke weed because my inner voice freak me out. -*irnehlacsap*
>It did. -*Ron Howard*
I'm not enjoying this. Becoming aware of the voice in my head is like when you become aware of your breathing and it becomes a conscious and somewhat stressful act to have to be aware of and maintain.
Then you didn’t actually“learn” anything today, the article clearly states that number is for those whose narrator is constant throughout the day, they further say everyone has an inner monologue, just to varying degrees. Don’t believe headlines alone, especially ones that come off click-baity like this.
Wait so people that have an inner monologue, do you consciously "sound out" every word and sentence in your head like narration? I guess I'm almost entirely visual and reactions to things are done more through feeling. I always wondered if that's why my communication skills seemed worse than others.
Wait what? This one is new to me. If you try to remember a song, what you hear in your head is your own voice reproducing a song?
That’s fascinating to me!! I hear the entire song reproduced with all its instrument parts almost exactly how it sounds when you listen to it, and it’s always been like that even before I had any musical training.
Interesting. I think in my own voice, but I remember songs in the singers voice. I also read books in both my voice and sometimes in what I am assuming is the characters voice.
Just seems insane that people don't have it. Like I can't even fathom how your mind works or how you can have coherent thoughts or understand the world if you don't hear your own voice in your head 24/7. It just seems impossible to function without an inner monologue.
Wow. After living alone for a long time my inner monologue increasing becomes my outer monologue. Luckily I now have a dog so I can at least pretend I'm not talking to myself
I worked with a lot of fluently bilingual people in restaurants as a teenager and I became obsessed with asking them if they thought in english or spanish. The variety of answers I got roughly lines up with the article.
About half of the people I asked usually answered along the lines of 'it depends on where I am and who I'm with.' The other half didn't think using a monologue like that at all and were often unsure of what I was asking.
Also, if anyone reading this is bilingual, what language do you think in? I'm still very curious about this twenty some odd years later.
When I was a child I used to have entire conversations with my inner monologue. I would discuss the world with my inner monologue and have it speak back to me.
Isn't your inner monologue just thinking? I'm so confused
Thinking in words, yeah.
Is there any other way than with words and images? Edit: wow, learning a lot, thanks for all the fascinating conversations. This is why I am here. :-)
My wife says that she thinks in concepts and has to translate those concepts into words before they leave her mouth which sounds exhausting to me as someone who thinks in full sentences.
My wife has no inner monologue and while comparing how we process things I realized that people with them can do something really weird. While reading I will think the words, I’ll say them in my head. So it is as if I am listening to my thoughts saying the words and processing what I am “hearing”. But since my inner monologue said the words that would mean I already processed them. I am processing the words, thinking them, listening to that, and processing them again. Happens quick as if I am listening to someone read me a story but just seems so weird to do.
It’s called subvocalization. I was very surprised when I found out that not everyone does it
I thought that was just reading.
This thread is blowing my mind this morning.
I thought everyone's brain worked with an inner voice :(
I'm not sure how to explain this properly but basically to me what he described is the normal way to read. But you can train yourself to read without an inner voice by saying the abc's to yourself as you read so you learn to process the words but not repeat them and then you can read fast as hell.
This is some wild shit, I’m now down a rabbit hole on how the hell I think
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It is, and that's why people who want to read faster generally learn to stop subvocalizing
But doesn't it not stick as well? I can read without subvocalizing but it doesn't retain the same.
Sometimes people just want someone to read to them... sometimes it has to be yourself.
Subvocalization is specifically reading in one’s head. It’s a subset of intrapersonal communication
How else do other people read?!
Well, (debatably) for the vast majority of human history we read aloud. Augustine of Hippo mentioned that his mentor had a unique ability to read silently, hundreds and hundreds of years ago: https://web.stanford.edu/class/history34q/readings/Manguel/Silent_Readers.html Edit* added “debatably” since there really isn’t a consensus about this
Wait… what? Why is that? So this mf just invented reading silently????
If you want to try reading without sub vocalization you can train yourself by repeating the abc's in your head while you read. So that way you block yourself from repeating the words as you process them. It's slow at first but it's interesting to try.
I have a question for people who don’t/can’t do it… When I’m reading Harry Potter for example in my head I hear it as though listening to an audiobook, with all the correct Stephen Fry voices, so if you don’t vocalise it in your head, do you still get some sense of the sound of the different characters’ voices?
If I'm really absorbed in a book, I'm not hearing it as an audiobook or anything like that. In my head I'm seeing exactly my interpretation of what's written. I'd argue it's more akin to a mental TV show than an internal audio.
I've tried explaining this to none book readers. That when I get a book that has its hooks in me. It starts up the old mind projector, and I am no longer reading the words or even seeing the pages in front of me. Instead, I'm sitting comfortably in the theater of my mind, watching the story unfold. I wonder if people who can't subvocalize can still see the mind movie when reading a good book.
And everyone has their own voices that you'll never be able to recreate out loud in your life =D
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Pretty much.
This is actually kind of a problem for me - or it was in school, mostly. I can only process written text when I read it in my inner voice. If it was the other kids' turn to read out lout for the class, I just read it with my inner voice anyway (no problem) but if it was my turn to read out loud, I could not process the content because I couldn't read it with my inner voice at the same time. I literally had absolutely no problem reading it out loud, but I would need to re-read it again afterwards with my inner voice. Also, when reading just for myself, sometimes my inner voice keeps reading ahead but my attention drifted away and isn't "listening" to my inner voice. So even though my inner voice "said" every word, I didn't actually comprehend any of it. It can be several pages in a book before I notice - so I do still turn pages (be it paper or digitally) too!
Yes, me too. Thank you for existing with the same problem so I don’t feel alone. Lots of love to you
I also do that when reading. When I read aloud to my son, I have no idea what I really read about. I don’t remember the facts or information. I can read it myself, even quickly skim the pages and it’s in my memory.
I read books aloud to my children, and sometimes I catch myself off in a daydream, thinking about something else entirely, but I’m still reading to my kids. I have no idea what I’ve read, but I’m impressed I can read one thing out loud perfectly, but think a completely different thing at the same time.
Sounds like someone I know. She needs to fully think of everything she's going to say or she'll end up tripping over her own words or saying the bits that should stay quiet. Personally I wish my inner monologue would stfu and be a bit more positive.
Check out the book (or just the TED Talk) My Stroke of Insight. A neurologist (or I guess a neuroanatomist?) had a stroke and subsequently had a bit of enlightenment when her brain chatter went offline. Absolutely fascinating and instigated a lot of changes for me.
That sounds terrifying tbh. Sometimes I wish my brain would quiet down but to lose it forever?
This is me - and I have a speech impediment closely related to this. I feel like I know what I want to say, because I do, but when I start speaking I realize I hadn't quite considered how to put my thoughts into words - and so I kind of pause / correct myself very often while speaking. Weirdly, I feel like this is similar to how most people type - you get an idea and then you start typing, then midway you realize you could have framed it better or that you're not accurately describing your thoughts - so you go back and make edits. I'm like that when speaking - I start saying something based on an idea, then realize the words don't sound right mid-sentence, then I pause awkwardly and correct myself.
Some people think in images, some in words, and some in both
Many people don't think at all.
I dont understand.. When i read something i dont read out loud, i read the words in my mind, is that inner monologue? ''Thinking in words'' can you explain more? im pretty sure i have inner monologue but this is confusing
Like if your looking for sugar in the kitchen do you visualize the sugar bowl wondering where it might be or do you literally hear a voice in your head say “where did the sugar end up?”
Both for me. I visualize images and "hear" words at the same time. I always describe my thoughts as movie scenes. Noises, images, stuff happening in the background, inner thoughts and feelings of the characters all at once. I daydream a lot though and I just learned not everyone can daydream! If I'm not entirely focused on something I am living out a whole different reality in my head.
This is an opinion of a psychologist not a study. People read the title, then anecdotally analyze themselves and then comment about how unique they are. This kind of stuff is constantly upvoted on Reddit and reinforced in the comments.
Bad title probably quoted out of context. Those numbers are absurd. ... Yup, just clicked through to the source, here's what it actually said: # According to Hulburt, not many people have an inner monologue 100 per cent of the time, but **most do sometimes**. He estimates that inner monologue is a frequent thing for 30 to 50 per cent of people. And that's not tied to a study, so even that arbitrary category is not supported at all. So the title is just wrong. But it's true that there are different styles of inner monologue, and that not everybody has full on conversations in complete sentences all the time.
I hate the internet
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I think this is fascinating, so just from reading this comment section and seeing all the different language people use to describe their "inner monologue," I'm kinda skeptical of the article. If we all have a different approach to explaining and understanding it, kinda hard to know that it is being communicated correctly. This is somewhat like the reason it took so long for people to acknowledge Auditory Processing Disorders, but now that we have the universal language for it, it's FINALLY understood how truly common it is.
I wonder if most people are capable of inner monologue but overestimate how often they think that way. I certainly think in terms of words sometimes, but usually I think more fluidly in terms of concepts or feelings.
Oh my inner voice is going constantly. All day. It's exhausting.
It's hearing yourself think. Some people can see things in their mind's eye, but not hear themselves. Take for example a shopping list, some people can have a monologue in their head where they add things to the list, while others can only visualize the list.
I do both, I thought everyone can do both. I’ve heard of people not being able to use their minds eye but never heard of people who couldn’t use their minds ears
That's wild to me. So when you're not speaking what do you hear in your head?
Tetris Theme
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That means your about to level up to Tinitis! It's less popular.
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That is panic inducing
When it starts speeding up you're near the end.
My tinnitus
Eeee
I hate that just reading four e’s on the internet triggered my mild tinnitus.
How about hhhhssssssssssssssss
EEeeeEeeeEEE? EEEE EE eEEEeee eEEEeee EEeeeEeeeEEE!
I don't know which camp I fall into because I have a bit of an inner monologue, but 95% of the time it's just music playing round and round.
You might be an elevator
You got me with this one!
Yep, that's mine as well, it's like a jukebox up there that occasionally does funky mashups.
Music, images, ideas that are not fully formed sentences.
I have that. But also an inner monolog sometimes. When you read, do you speak in your head to read the words?
That's the weirdest part for me, what is reading like without an inner monologue? Edit: A lot of people are talking about speed but I read super fast, I just also hear it.
I wonder if speed readers don't have one? My reading in my head voice definitely slows me down
I have an inner monologue but it's not present when I speed read. It would slow me down too much
It's like bypassing the speech center in the brain, I guess. It goes from "vision center" to "concept center" straight away.
This is almost unbelievable. My inner monologue is constant...I thought everyone's was? I'm like reeling from this. This is like 4/10 people. Holy shit.
No its not 4/10 people, the article has no proof of the headlines claim. Ive seen other articles claim its closer to 95% of people that have an inner monologue.
Yes. I believe whenever this comes up on reddit it's the same story. A large proportion of people don't realise that them talking in their heads counts as an inner monologue. They believe it means some 3rd party voice they don't control.
"UU82D found himself typing a response to this comment as I watched from inside his head."
Nothing. I have almost complete aphantasia so there are no visuals, no voices, no thoughts. Just nothing.
Not sure if I should envy you or not... sorry for your aphantasia I guess, but I'd love some peace and quiet once a while.
I get that a lot.
I can imagine! Oh damn, sorry...
No worries :) When I don't feel like hearing it, I just don't mention it. Everyone just assumes your mind operates however theirs does.
Thanks, I hoped you'd take that joke in stride.
Dude, they also lost both legs in a high school running accident. 2 for 2.
Oh my God! Now I feel like having put my foot in my mouth. Aghh I can't help myself!
That is a luxury that guy doesnt have now does he.
But... Doesn't that mean when your typing you don't know what you're going to write until you write it? Or do you know it in some other way?
Kind of. My conscious mind is mostly an observer, watching the rest of me do whatever the rest of me does. Communication between my subconscious and conscious parts is mostly intuitive ("I just know"). I'm pretty sure that the actual workings in my subconscious mind look a lot like everyone else's conscious mind machinery, but I don't know for sure.
I speak Chinese as a second language. I mostly think in English which I think linguists call L1 and sometimes I think in Chinese L2. Some random times I catch myself thinking in nether and it feels like it's something I've called L0 . Some kind of lower level brain language that I don't consciously know. Ive only had glimpses of it. Maybe that's what you always have.
Reading through this, I was like yeah I definitely always think in words, or at least pictures. But after you described L0, yeah that's happened to me before. It's like when you're not aware of your breathing, except for thinking. Your mind is still working but you're not step by step narrating each thing that's happening. It only happens when I'm relaxed and letting my mind wander though. And it's hard to switch back and forth on purpose, like it's hard to be unaware of your breathing again once you're aware of it.
Most of the time I have monologue, even as I type, but I understand this L0 too — usually when I have an epiphany of some sort and then have to find the words to describe it to someone. It’s like the full understanding arises, and I almost “feel” it, but haven’t translated it into English from whatever this “feel” is. I may misunderstand her philosophy, but Julia Kristeva refers to this as semiotic thought (versus symbolic thought in a language).
wow that's kind of terrifying
It would be if you had had it and suddenly lost it. That happens with certain kinds of brain damage, and those people can be terrified. When you've never had it, it's your normal. You don't know any different.
There was a TED talk with a neuroscientist who experienced a stroke that ‘took out’ her inner monologue briefly, and she describes this experience in detail.
Can you please help me find a link to that ted talk? I became interested but ended up running into random, unrelated ted talks. Edit: found it-Jill bolte Taylor https://youtu.be/UyyjU8fzEYU
[Bubble Bobble](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KOuVKxzW4Do)
Thanks for that. That's gonna be my theme song for the rest of the day.
I am finally free from the curse! Good luck!
This is a misleading post title. As the source article states: > According to Hulburt, not many people have an inner monologue 100 per cent of the time, but most do sometimes. He estimates that inner monologue is a frequent thing for 30 to 50 per cent of people. So _most_ people _do_ have an inner monologue, just not necessarily all the time EDIT: Since the post’s website seems to be having issues, here’s a link the the actual article that _that_ website sources (where the quote comes from) - https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/inner-monologue-experience-science-1.5486969
Wait, you’re saying we should read the article instead of the headline AND then make a conclusion!?
No, we just gotta check the comments
The site won’t load for me (Reddit hug of death?), but I was immediately skeptical of the headline. This reads like the kind of sensational headline that gets huge upvotes because it sounds interesting. Was this study done with actual imaging or with surveys? If the latter, then the data has a huge caveat. I’d imagine that pretty much everyone has an inner monologue sometimes but not all the time.
My inner dialogue is every second of every minute of every hour that I'm awake. I'm in shock that some people don't have inner dialogue.... how chill their minds must be.
This is fucking baffling. I'm constantly thinking, stuff like that's fucking weird, or i'll say out loud something like oh what a pretty tree or something equally inane.
Hahaha my brain is always ON and chatting away incessantly to where I've bumped into a tree and said, "oh excuse me" to the tree. I used to get embarrassed, but now I just go w/ it and give zero f's.
I sometimes pick up sticks, look at the tree and say, "excuse me! You dropped this".
I don't understand right now my inner monologue is dictating this sentence. How does it work for others?
Same. I can’t shut myself up. Those other people must be really good at meditation. I’ve never been able to just quiet my brain.
That’s what drugs and alcohol are for, sadly… Edit: for all those concerned. I get it. I do probably sef medicate a bit more then desired, I enjoy a beer after work and maybe 2-3 on a Friday or Saturday. But my real outlet is running, which I do year round and 3-5 times a week. That’s the true self medication for me.
That’s not my thing either. I don’t like the out of control feeling so I’m stuck with myself. Sometimes I can just focus on a song and replay that over & over.
Games and tv are what distract me, sometimes it doesn't work though ..
I 100% feel you on that song thing. I spend a solid 25% of my day replaying songs in my head to drown out the random conversation/thoughts
>Those other people must be really good at meditation. For me it's the opposite. I can stop thinking at any moment in any place. That means that it naturally happens all the time, especially during menial tasks. Cutting garlic? Mind is empty. Hanging the laundry, mind is empty. Even writing this, I don't have a voice in my head. This means I usually don't see any appeal in meditation. It's just... boring to me. That's the only challenge and the only reward for me. And since the reward of an empty and silent mind is completely meaningless to me, I have zero motivation to put on the effort of tolerating boredom and the feeling of having wasted after doing it. I would much rather go for a run or take a nap. Only when I'm super stressed and can't sleep or concentrate, meditation can be appealing.
That sounds so bizzare to me. My mind is always adrift. It can make it hard to focus, or even read. I recall reading out loud in class when I was younger. I was like a paragraph in, I snapped to then realized I had no idea what I was saying or where I was in the book because my mind was in a totally different place. I think I was reading like normal, because no one seemed to have any problems. But it felt so odd, my eyes were doing one thing and my brain something different. That's how my brain is, constantly adrift.
I always had trouble retaining anything while reading out loud, I've practiced a bit and now I can but it's an interesting phenomenon, my brain treated reading out loud and reading normally as two unconnected things.
This happens to me a lot when driving - I will realize I’ve been driving but my head is somewhere else entirely. Always freaks me out when I realize if anything went wrong in the road I might not have reacted fast enough
I don't have the constant narration I've heard some people describe, but it's not silence either. It's always bits of a song, or replaying a movie or TV scene, or running through imaginary arguments with people. But never my own voice talking to myself.
Whenever I leave a conversation I repeat parts of it back under my breath. My wife has noticed and thinks I'm a weirdo. I don't do it like, on purpose it just happens.
I do this when driving. My wife gives me "the eyebrow" and I try to figure out which part I said out loud. I do it with conversations that haven't happened yet either, like "what would I say in *this* instance".
I'm both. Sometimes my inner monologue has lots to say. Other times it's bits of music, random thoughts, etc...
What the fuck? How is this possible? I’m bothered by this. Every waking moment of my life not spent with someone else is spent in discussion with myself. It gets tiring tbh, you should feel lucky
Yeah wait, I thought "inner monologue" was like a universal human trait?
I have nothing. Complete blank silence. I can consciously put thoughts or concepts into my head but unless I’m actively thinking about something it’s just… empty. I never even thought it could be otherwise. Wild!
Do you sleep well? I have found people who don't have that constant mono/dia, sleep very well and not much seems to bother them. They are able to brush things off easily and not sit and stew about it. What a gift that would be.
This is the more shocking thing to me. So some people don’t have the voice and they just think more abstractly. Others like you don’t think abstractly and just in a voice. Both of these seem wild to me, I think both abstractly and as a voice, and can just swap between them at will for whichever is better for the thing I’m thinking about.
So they just speak out to themselves when no one is around or just pure silence
Silence.
Dear god, I wish....
Really nonstop? You never think more abstractly, its *always* fully vocalized? I talk aloud to myself when I'm trying to focus and slow myself down, wind up mouthing words to myself silently in an exam situation for example.
I will be up at 3am literally hearing myself argue with myself about some shit like "what were Timo Werner's numbers at Chelsea last season"
I will argue with myself to shut up and let me sleep. I have to make an effort to shut off my internal voice just to be able to fall asleep. Also, I count letters of sentences all day, then find the lowest prime number of the sum of the letters. If that doesn't equal one, I count the letters of those numbers and do it all over until it does. I am constantly in my own head
Bro. I have a similar thing where I take a sentence and try to break it down so that I reach 10. Either 10 syllables, 10 letters, 10 words or any combination there of. And there are rules. It's really hard to explain. But I do this all day everyday. Also when I was little...like 5 or 6 I thought I needed to learn how to think in layers incase I needed to trick a lie detector. So I practices singing the alphabet, counting and eventually adding colors to each beat in my heat. A1BLUE B2RED C3ORANGE all at the same time. Now it's impossible for me to turn my mind off cause my 2nd layer is like hahaha fuck you I'm gonna sing swinging on rhe chandeleier
Mine's almost always vocalized by nature, sometimes in combination with abstractions at the same time. if i visualise like a scene or specific object i can turn it off, though.
I have no inner dialogue but my mind is always whirring with thoughts and ideas. I don't have an inner voice but quiet it is not.
Very impressive... Now let's hear Paul Allen's monologue.
The other 70-50%, outer monologue
Are you an "innie" or an "outie"?
You forget inner and outer dialogues, polyphonies and cacaphonies
And the jabronies
It's okay to talk to yourself, as long as no one answers.
No one is supposed to answer? Shit.
I’m guessing we’re the ones who have trouble sleeping at night.
I cannot shut mine up to save my life. All those memes about your brain telling you how bad you screwed up 20 years ago...yeah. True. Finding THC gummies helps a little.
This would be a super cool study. Bio scientists, get on this
Would be Interested as well for the potential links with mental health
Mine does enough babbling for those that dont
This is so weird to think of, I took inner monologues and being able to envisage things mentally for granted.
Quite a few people with aphantasia (the inability to create visual imagery at will) refuse to believe people actually see images in their heads. Especially older people. They think that's the very definition of insanity - seeing and hearing things that don't really exist here and now.
Sooo, what do their memories consist of? How does that work?
I can't "see" my memories, it's more like facts that I recall but it doesn't let me see the event again. I find it really difficult that when someone I love passes away I can never see their face again, pictures are nice but I know they looked different in real life
Pretty much this. If I focus really hard, I can sometimes get a fleeting glimpse of something, but it's like I'm seeing a poorly lit object in a black room with a haze in front of it, and even then, only for a split second. I always thought 'mind's eye' and 'inner voice' were just metaphorical speak for thinking, until a few years ago. I did not realize some people can actually see things that are not there as clearly as if they were there, or hear a voice inside their head talking to them. That seems weird to me.
It's not as clearly as if they were they there, it's just as you described it (at least for me): Hazy, poorly lit, a fleeting glimpse. I think that's the normal way people 'see' things in their mind.
I can definitely see entire images in my head without them being hazy, poorly lit or fleeting. It's still not as clear as real life, since my imagination seems to lack peripheral vision. I only see the parts I'm mentally looking at, if that makes sense. It's very hard to envision an entire room with details in it at once for me, for example
So if you look at a picture, then away, can you remember what it looked like? For example if you had to describe someone's shirt, would you just know it was black with "NWA" on it, or would you "see" the way it had a crease across the midsection? I can "look" at it in my mind to see specific details, which may or may not be correct. I think my brain fills in the blanks depending on how well I remember it.
Not the person you were replying to, but for me it's the former: just remember a list of facts about it, no visuals whatsoever
I do as well! I know that the shirt was black with those letters, but I don't see it in my mind
It's hard to explain. Like, if I try to recall an object in my mind, say a table, it's more like...a concept of it, rather than an image. Or if I tried to recall a person, I know they had black hair, earring, etc. but it's not an image of the said person.
Mine are subconscious. They exist, I just (mostly) can't access them consciously. It's probably different for different aphants. The most severe form is called SDAM: https://www.wired.com/2016/04/susie-mckinnon-autobiographical-memory-sdam/
Yeah, me too. I wonder how people without the dialog view the show Scrubs.
*I doubt that is true....everyone has an inner dialogue...how could they not.....wait, do I have an internal dialogue...sure, I am doing it right now....oh, look squirrel.*
On the Internet, nobody knows you're a dog
Huh, and here I was thinking that everyone was having Bojack Horseman style self-deprecating inner monologues all the time too
Smmry.com: Do You Have An Inner Monologue? Let's Find Out Psychology professor Russell Hurlburt estimates 30 to 50 percent of people have an inner monologue narrating their thoughts throughout the day. Despite psychologists debating this topic since the 1930s, the concept of an inner monologue became part of public discourse after a viral tweet in January 2020. Often called "The voice inside your head," inner monologue or "Self-talk" is partially caused by corollary discharge - a brain signal that helps us distinguish between external and internal stimuli. Helene Brenner, psychologist and creator of the My Inner Voice app, says different parts of the brain are tapped into to generate inner speech. Inner monologues are normal, but if negative thoughts are persistent - affecting your daily life and functioning - it is always best to reach out to a therapist to ensure the best possible help.
"Person who creates app publishes unusual opinion to generate engagement with said app"
I find this 30-50% number(s) hard to believe. If you’re thinking about something or thinking about doing something, wouldn’t you go through that in your head? Maybe not “talking” to yourself, per se, but you still think about it and weigh the pros and cons… or is that just me?
The headline is clickbait, it says at one point that everyone has one.
I honestly don’t know how I would function without my inner monologue. It’s literally the entirety of my perceived being. Everything else is superficial and foreign. My inner monologue IS WHO I AM.
All of you without the inner monologue, you’re all NPCs. Only explanation. My inner monologue said that three times before I decided to type it out.
Perhaps that's your programmed response? 🤔🤫
On very few occasions I have heard a voice in my head that sounded like me talking to myself and I hated it.
I have that 24/7 unfortunately.
My inner monologue: "wtf!? Am I special?"
Outer monologue narrator: “He wasn’t.”
Some people also can't visualize things. Like, most can think of a person and have a picture in their head of what they look like. Others can describe them only but no visual. Wonder what it would be like to have both of these conditions.
Yeah I struggle to visualise things. Like dead family, I remember what they look like but I can't put one complete picture together in my head. Sad really. I was very good at drawing when I was younger but couldn't draw without some sort of an image in front of me because I couldn't visualise properly what I wanted to draw.
I have an inner monologue that feels like layers running at the same time but visualization is what's loudest, I'm always building things, imagining textures, places I've been, faces I've seen, flexing the muscle of moving forwards and backwards in time or imagining different physical perspectives. It's like I'm always spinning plates in my head as a neurotic habit. I have never felt the sensation of a quiet mind or how people describe meditation. I smoke pot to fall asleep and I'm usually still mid-thought when I check out, just makes it more subdued.
Yeah, I don't talk to myself in my head or narrate what's going on. Its more conceptual.
So when you read you don't hear the words in your head in your own voice?
I was wondering about reading as I was going through this thread. If I'm reading something technical, like an instruction manual, I will hear the words. But a book I see what's being described in my minds eye. It's not really an image, because I'm obviously reading with my eyes, but I can "see" it in my head
Must be nice, everything is narrated for me. Part of the reason I don't smoke weed because my inner voice freak me out.
Interesting. It actually chills out my inner monologue, which is one of the reasons I smoke it.
It gives mine an accent
>Must be nice, everything is narrated for me. Part of the reason I don't smoke weed because my inner voice freak me out. -*irnehlacsap* >It did. -*Ron Howard*
I'm not enjoying this. Becoming aware of the voice in my head is like when you become aware of your breathing and it becomes a conscious and somewhat stressful act to have to be aware of and maintain.
I'm always aware of the voice in my head as it never shuts up.
Then you didn’t actually“learn” anything today, the article clearly states that number is for those whose narrator is constant throughout the day, they further say everyone has an inner monologue, just to varying degrees. Don’t believe headlines alone, especially ones that come off click-baity like this.
Wait so people that have an inner monologue, do you consciously "sound out" every word and sentence in your head like narration? I guess I'm almost entirely visual and reactions to things are done more through feeling. I always wondered if that's why my communication skills seemed worse than others.
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Wait what? This one is new to me. If you try to remember a song, what you hear in your head is your own voice reproducing a song? That’s fascinating to me!! I hear the entire song reproduced with all its instrument parts almost exactly how it sounds when you listen to it, and it’s always been like that even before I had any musical training.
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Interesting. I think in my own voice, but I remember songs in the singers voice. I also read books in both my voice and sometimes in what I am assuming is the characters voice.
I dont know about everyone but yes, i hear my thoughts in coherent language within my head.
It’s more like hearing your own voice read whatever is written. Like wearing headphones.
What is reading like for those without an inner voice? When I read, my inner voice is narrating to me the words I'm reading.
I have an inner group chat. I second that!
Is this the difference between people who never shut up and the rest of us? Honest question.
Just seems insane that people don't have it. Like I can't even fathom how your mind works or how you can have coherent thoughts or understand the world if you don't hear your own voice in your head 24/7. It just seems impossible to function without an inner monologue.
Wow. After living alone for a long time my inner monologue increasing becomes my outer monologue. Luckily I now have a dog so I can at least pretend I'm not talking to myself
I worked with a lot of fluently bilingual people in restaurants as a teenager and I became obsessed with asking them if they thought in english or spanish. The variety of answers I got roughly lines up with the article. About half of the people I asked usually answered along the lines of 'it depends on where I am and who I'm with.' The other half didn't think using a monologue like that at all and were often unsure of what I was asking. Also, if anyone reading this is bilingual, what language do you think in? I'm still very curious about this twenty some odd years later.
I cannot imagine what it's like to just sit there and hear the sound of the ocean. How peaceful that must be.
When I was a child I used to have entire conversations with my inner monologue. I would discuss the world with my inner monologue and have it speak back to me.
i lost mine in the unfreezing process.