TIL that some people do not have an inner voice and think in different nonverbal ways.

I'm one of the 5-10%. I always sucked at verbal memory tasks. Didn't know some people have an real, interpretable internal monologue until a few years ago. I thought thinking nonverbally was the default. I even specifically remember watching shows and movies where you listen to a character's internal internal monologue and thinking "this is dumb, that's not how thinking works". Turns out it is, and I'm just in the minority! Now I make an effort to manually start an internal monologue when I'm doing anything that requires a lot of verbal processing, like listening to instructions at work. It helps, but I can still tell that I have a deficit compared to most people when it comes to those things.

I’ve seen this conversation come up so many times and I’m never not fascinated by it. I have a nonstop internal monologue, it can be exhausting really. But I can’t fully wrap my head around thinking without it

I recently learned that some people do hear a voice in their head. Some see pictures too.

"Weirdos. I don't have an inner voice", most people thought, using their inner voice.

Some inner voice talking to me all time sounds fucking awful haha

The FBI did a study and most serial killers don't have an inner monologue... You can add that to the TIL.

Sometimes I wish I could silence the voices inside my head..

Now I am reading everything alout with my inner voice instead of just skipping over it. I've entered manual reading mode. Great. Thanks.

The guy in my head is my best friend and the biggest asshole ever.

I feel like if I had an inner voice I'd get super annoyed at it.

It has its uses, helpful for remembering a short sequence of numbers for instance, or practicing a specific dialogue line that is going to be important, like for a job interview or something where you want a solid and confident delivery. But generally speaking I prefer it quiet, makes it infinitely easier to pay attention to my surroundings.

Meditation is basically the practice of learning how to turn it off at will. Can take awhile, it doesn't always seem to like being quiet. It also turns off other times though, like when you're suddenly startled for instance.

I have a non-verbal inner voice which gives meta-commentary on my verbal inner voice. If I want to think about what I'm thinking, that's what is going on.

How do they read silently to themselves? 🤔

Wait, do people have an actual vocalized inner monologue every time they think?

I always thought only mentally ill people (schizophrenic) have inner voice(s) that is until I learned everyone else has so it’s me that I am not normal lol

I feel like it makes grammar harder tbh. I have to edit shit again and again if I want it to look good for you nerds.

My inner monologue is an asshole that literally never shuts up unless I'm asleep. If I'm not actively thinking about something and conversing with him or keeping him otherwise distracted, he's singing a snippet of the last catchy song he heard, over and over, until a new one takes its place. Sometimes it's the same song for days on end.

I have both an inner voice and strong imagery. I cannot imagine any other way. I assume that people on the opposite end would see my mind as massive chaos though.

I'm almost the exact opposite. I hear everything when I think. I don't picture 99.9% of my thoughts. I think in sounds. Not all thoughts are languages, but all thoughts are sounds. Even the very very few I have pictured. The thoughts in languages are numerous at a time and constant, as though forever lightning in bottle. I love it. It sounds kind of like the matrix looks.

Wow l, i didnt know this was a thing. I'm the visual version of this - which i already know sucks less.

I wonder whether you don't get songs stuck in your head... like as a consolation prize at least?

I wonder what causes this? Genetics, random, maybe issues during speech development as a child?

i still don't understand what the fuck an internal monologue is supposed to be.

I've heard it's the thing that makes you do things, i've heard it's a thing that just exists.

I don't know what it is, what it does, or what it seems to be for, and i don't even know whether i have one.

Science is a bitch sometimes.

Honestly I'd kind of like that in some ways. Language is actually pretty limiting, so not being stuck with it for thinking would make some thoughts easier to convey to yourself.

I mean I can have an inner dialogue, but normally it goes straight onto the idea level of thinking and I don't waste resources trying to shape it into words. I can do that, though.

Those are probably the quick-thinker types. I wonder if people with inner voices take longer when making decision because they have to "listen" to the their inner voices.

I wish mine would shut up every once in awhile...

NPCs

I'm not really sure if I count as having an inner voice thinker or not. I definitely use an inner voice when composing verbal/written thoughts, and when I'm trying to remember something specific. However trying to pay attention to my inner thought process makes it seem like my thoughts are mostly non-verbal with occasional sporadic words thrown in? It feels like the more relaxed I am the fewer words there are.

I have an internal monologue, but I don't need it to think and it's not constant.

I am not sure about myself. I assume it is English, but now when i think about it my thoughts are much slower, and trip over them selves. It seems odd to consider thought in a means that is contrived for a much less efficient medium. So maybe i don’t think in a language at all and just attribute the meanings after the fact. I can visualize objects in my head though

When i need to think something through to myself i often start a recording app on my phone and literally talk it out. It helps narrow down the swirling and distracting thoughts, even if i never go back to the recording later. Is that adhd or a failing inner voice?

I never really understand what people are taking about when they say they have an inner monologue or don't. Sometimes i think in words, sometimes i think in swirls and images, sometimes i don't think...

I have several voices in my head and they never shut the fuck up! 😩

TIL some people have an inner voice. What is for you folks, like imaginary sounds?

I can change what my inner monologue sounds like. It can go from Morgan Freeman to Pete Holmes' Batman trying to figure out his voice.

I can do both, ask me anything.

I think I have an inner voice, but that's clearly not a voice I hear at all, that's the speech part not resulting in mouthing anything. It's mostly true for foreign languages (like english) but less so for my native french.

maybe my brains broken but when I read stuff my "inner voice" is what I hear in my head. so do you guys not do that too? do the people without inner voices not hear anything when they read stuff?

I do wish I could shut up my inner voice a bit more often, especially when I go to sleep.

I’m convinced that a great part of the people that claim to not have an inner voice are either:

1. lying to come off as interesting
2. unaware of their inner voice
3. not understanding what ‘inner voice’ means. It’s not exactly like someone is talking to you, right? But it does come close.

Try thinking some sentences (like a song lyrics or a conversation) while holding your lips and tongue completely still, I mean not moving them even a tiny bit.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UdFbOFwFz3g

My own inner monologue is a mix of movie and voice, I often see the real life/animated equivalent of what thought/idea is trending within my monologue. Years after a thought experiment on the concept of creating a Tulpa, that artificial inner presence still exists. It tends to influence the monologue direction for at least a few hours at a time; then it fades from my awareness for weeks or months at a time.

When I'm in the flow state I don't hear the voice in my head, otherwise I do. It's very evident while reading or typing.