TIL that some people do not have an inner voice and think in different nonverbal ways.
TIL that some people do not have an inner voice and think in different nonverbal ways.
The vast majority of people have an ongoing conversation with themselves, an inner voice, that plays an important role in their daily lives. But between 5-10 per cent of the population do not have the same experience of an inner voice, and they find it more difficult to perform certain verbal memory...
cross-posted from: https://lemmit.online/post/2916897
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The original was posted on /r/science by /u/mvea on 2024-05-15 10:17:06+00:00.
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I wonder what causes this? Genetics, random, maybe issues during speech development as a child?
I don't think issues is a great word for something that doesn't have an obvious negative outcome.
I have an inner monologue that is something like an auditory version of my thoughts. Reminds me of a movie narrator explaining what people arre thinking, but not a verbal exchange like the article describes. It is absolutely zero help in remembering things because it switches to my current thoughts, and doesn't just run in the background. It doesn't seem to be a negative at all, and it is hearing hearing what I'm thinking but not rrally hearing because it doesn't sound like anyone in particular.
On the visual side, I can't picture something I haven't seen before and only have brief flashes of what I have seen before. Can't picture anything in my mind except the vaguest of stereotypical ideas, like a tropical island is a tiny island with a palm tree or a lagoon. Maybe the rough outline of a mountain peak. Can't draw anything like that from imagination, but can do a pretty solid sketch of something that I have a visual reference for. Also not really an issue, since most things don't require picturing them without seeing them, but it did derail my interest in art and I can't do any of the meditation exercises that involve picturing myself somewhere.
I assume any of these kinds of differences can be caused by a combination of genetics and environment since genes are expressed differently based on experience and environments can also impact people in ways that don't involve genes.
I think we will eventually find that it's connected to a lot of other areas. I was thinking of other senses. Someone mentioned taste - i can sort of taste things I've eaten before that sound good. I don't think feeling tactile things that aren't there is a thing, but maybe some people have that?
The lack of auditory thing doesn't bother me at all. Visual part does bother me. I'm terrible with faces - I introduce myself to people repeatedly and I get confused in shows with too many characters. I lost my mom last year and i can't see her face in my head. Everytime i see a photo of her it's a little bit surprising. Sometimes i stare at my husband - I'm afraid I'll lose my memory one day and won't recognize him. I lost my cat once and brought in another cat that looked similar. My cat was just hiding and freaked out!
Probably a combination of environment (nurture) and simple evolution. The brain is a complex computer that handles a metric-fuck-ton of information. Some minor variation in how that information is processed or accessed is bound to develope, especially when the sample size is in the billions.