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What's odd and sorta frightening is that some people lack the capability to have an internal dialogue. They apparently think in symbols and visual elements.

Konohamaru 4y ago
I don't have an internal dialogue. I think in symbols and visual elements. Sometimes a realization hits but it's never in the form of words or a sentence, but rather like entering a new state of consciousness. Language is more like a tool than an innate part of me.
vikaveri 4y ago
It's not that I'm incapable of having internal dialogue, it's just that it is putting in words others could understand a thought, or series of thoughts that happened in fraction of a time it takes to form a single sentence. The result of the thought process isn't something expressed in words, it's internalized knowledge, conclusion or decision
- stackbutterflow 4y ago
  But maybe some people do lack the capability to have an internal dialogue. Why do you feel singled out?
  - vikaveri 4y ago
    I don't feel singled out, I feel inclined to think that most people do have internal dialogue, but for some it's after the fact, it's not part of the thought process
Akronymus 4y ago
And others, like me, lack the ability to visualize or recreate music/sounds outside of our own voice in our mind.
hnbad 4y ago
You think that's odd and frightening? I find it a lot more odd and frightening that y'all constantly hear voices in your heads and think that's normal. Jokes aside, yeah, I have no internal dialogue, I at best have an internal monologue if I'm specifically trying to express something in language (e.g. to write it down like now). I wouldn't say I think in "symbols and visual elements" as I also have aphantasia, which means y'all literally seeing pictures (or even being able to place imagined objects in your perception of the physical space around you) in your head feels equally weird to me as the voices. I find it hard to imagine my future selves ("Where do you see yourself ten years from now?" is hard to answer for me because I literally can't) and feel detached from my past selves (memories are somewhat abstract because of my aphantasia), but I've read that this may be related to my autism. I can anticipate changes/events but it's more like seeing a cartoon sketch than directly interpolating the present and the predicted outcome. My thinking is definitely spatial though. If I work on anything that requires focus, I sense concepts I work on persisting outside my "peripheral vision" much like you'd perceive a faint directional noise. I also have terrible memory when it comes to names and dates or mathematical formulas (or chemicals for that matter). I find it easier to memorize processes (if they have a logical flow), which is probably how I ended up in programming. Oh, and I am terrible at perceiving things like hunger or needing to pee until it's urgent, but that again seems to be an autism (or ADHD) thing.

Konohamaru 4y ago

I don't have an internal dialogue. I think in symbols and visual elements. Sometimes a realization hits but it's never in the form of words or a sentence, but rather like entering a new state of consciousness. Language is more like a tool than an innate part of me.

vikaveri 4y ago

It's not that I'm incapable of having internal dialogue, it's just that it is putting in words others could understand a thought, or series of thoughts that happened in fraction of a time it takes to form a single sentence. The result of the thought process isn't something expressed in words, it's internalized knowledge, conclusion or decision

stackbutterflow 4y ago
But maybe some people do lack the capability to have an internal dialogue. Why do you feel singled out?
- vikaveri 4y ago
  I don't feel singled out, I feel inclined to think that most people do have internal dialogue, but for some it's after the fact, it's not part of the thought process

Akronymus 4y ago

And others, like me, lack the ability to visualize or recreate music/sounds outside of our own voice in our mind.

hnbad 4y ago

You think that's odd and frightening? I find it a lot more odd and frightening that y'all constantly hear voices in your heads and think that's normal. Jokes aside, yeah, I have no internal dialogue, I at best have an internal monologue if I'm specifically trying to express something in language (e.g. to write it down like now). I wouldn't say I think in "symbols and visual elements" as I also have aphantasia, which means y'all literally seeing pictures (or even being able to place imagined objects in your perception of the physical space around you) in your head feels equally weird to me as the voices. I find it hard to imagine my future selves ("Where do you see yourself ten years from now?" is hard to answer for me because I literally can't) and feel detached from my past selves (memories are somewhat abstract because of my aphantasia), but I've read that this may be related to my autism. I can anticipate changes/events but it's more like seeing a cartoon sketch than directly interpolating the present and the predicted outcome. My thinking is definitely spatial though. If I work on anything that requires focus, I sense concepts I work on persisting outside my "peripheral vision" much like you'd perceive a faint directional noise. I also have terrible memory when it comes to names and dates or mathematical formulas (or chemicals for that matter). I find it easier to memorize processes (if they have a logical flow), which is probably how I ended up in programming. Oh, and I am terrible at perceiving things like hunger or needing to pee until it's urgent, but that again seems to be an autism (or ADHD) thing.