6 ms·

Well written - I do not possess an internal monologue (which apparently isn't uncommon), and a common thing people think is that it is like this author's descri

Well written - I do not possess an internal monologue (which apparently isn't uncommon), and a common thing people think is that it is like this author's description of "quiet" - yes, there is not a person "talking" in my head, but my head is anything but quiet most of the time. It just doesn't take the form of words/sound.

LoganDark 2y ago
a long time ago, we actually had to practice in order to be able to speak in our head without speaking out loud. so, in a way, we sort of used not to have an inner monologue, and had to develop one on purpose. now we do have one (though often it's more of an inner dialogue, because DID...)
aucisson_masque 2y ago
Don't you ever think to yourself when waking up 'time to wake up' ? Or when you see someone you don't like 'oh here is that motherfucker' ? I mean the inner voice isn't like a deep discussion between you and you, its spontaneous stuff you just wouldn't say out loud. I have a hard time believing some people don't have it.
- Baeocystin 2y ago
  Not the person you're asking, but as someone who also doesn't have an inner monologue, no, I literally never think either of those two things you gave as an example. I feel the feelings they describe, but they never bubble up to my thoughts in word form.
- bombela 2y ago
  I also don't have this internal monologue. But I can talk in my head just fine if I want. But doing so is the same effort as talking out loud. I suspect that it does make articulating my thoughts verbally to other people more difficult since I must go brain thinking to text before speech. That's probably why I prefer textual communication so much more. I can take the time to read, think, and textualize the answer. I also find it incredibly useful to pretend I am teaching in my head; thus producing the text; before going into a meeting on a given topic. Of course anything I haven't thought to reharse, I am now naked. As for your specific example, instead of a concrete set of words about waking up or a specific insult. I simply think a similar concept.
- uniq7 2y ago
  Language is just a way of encoding semantic meaning. If your brain already knows that it is time to wake up or that it hates that guy, what's the point of encoding a description of that feeling into spoken language and replay it? That sounds inefficient. I have an inner monologue, but most of the time (and especially when I want to work fast), I "disable" it. Then my mind simply works in the "meaning space", where it can leverage other modalities (e.g., visual 3D representations of system behaviors). When I write or talk in formal environments I "enable" it just to double check and polish what I want to say.
  - JohnMakin 2y ago
    Language is just a way of encoding semantic meaning - this is a perfect explanation and im going to use it from now on, thanks. yea this is like me too. curious, did you start reading at a very early age? I started around 3. this is what I personally think it is. It’s not like I dont have the ability to hear a narrative in my head, I just dont do it. I’ve suspected that since I began reading so early, it has something to do with it - and if you’re not capable of reading /comprehending as fast as I can, like if you’re literally sounding out every word in your head you’d never be able to keep up with whatever it is I do. I’d be enormously frustrated by that process. But to me this is what “narrative voice people” must do in their heads. or maybe it has to do (for me) being on the spectrum (high functioning)
    - uniq7 2y ago
      > curious, did you start reading at a very early age? I started around 3 I did! I also learnt to read at 3. Your observation was really impressive. I've never thought about it being the cause of my weird quirks, I thought it was actually another consequence/symptom of being wired a bit different, but maybe you are right. Have you ever met anyone else who learnt to read early? Do they also behave like that? I don't know if I'm in the spectrum (I suspect I do, but I don't want to know). In any case, if I do, then I'm also a functioning one. > if you’re literally sounding out every word in your head you’d never be able to keep up with whatever it is I do Another possibility is that they overestimate how much they use their inner monologue without realizing. For example, I really doubt they think "time to move the left leg, now the right leg, now the left..." whenever they walk. Maybe they just don't enter into that "mode" as often as us
RGamma 2y ago
I can't quite get my head around not having an inner monologue. Mine's been around since I can remember. Its absence sounds quite scary to be honest.
- groby_b 2y ago
  I feel the same way about having somebody constantly chatting in my head :) I'd assume for both of us it's mostly fear of the unknown.
  - RGamma 2y ago
    How would you think through complex scenarios otherwise? Like: "How does the current US president influence global welfare?" (relevant, but rather trite, I know). Genuinely curious how you could form an opinion or at least analyze the question without verbalizing the ensuing self-conversation in your mind. Much (abstract) thought is informed by language.
    - madmask 2y ago
      I have no inner monologue unless I switch it on consciously, which I don’t like doing as it slows down thinking by orders of magnitude. In your example, I see things like graphs, numbers, maps, make connections and see possible futures, no explicit words involved. Edit: I also tend to “simulate” what is going to happen by conjuring up a small video of people dealing with the situation, or myself in that situation.
    - whatnow37373 2y ago
      You convert the language statement into semantic space. That's where you do the theorizing and then you convert it back. I can't think in text space. It's way too slow and I very much suck at it. It's hard to see how this works with such a complex question though. By its nature it's actually impossible to put into words. It's my theory that we all think like this, because it's literally impossible to think "in language", but some people need to have it as some type of security blanket and some don't. Every time someone says they have some inner monologue I can ask where this comes from. Your inner monologue also needs a source and that can't be language again. You cannot source all thought you have about this question just from those words alone. Your mind is making all types of connections that might eventually be convertable into words, but are themselves absolutely not verbal.
the_gipsy 2y ago
I know it's bad to say this - lile telling someone who is ill that they are not - but I cannot believe that someone truly has no inner monologue and at the same is capable of expressing complex ideas in writing or speech. What IS there then, if it's not quiet like the author describes? Could it be a lack of introspection? Have you been examined by any kind of specialist or is it self diagnosed?
- JohnMakin 2y ago
  People have asked me this. I don’t know what to say other than I just make the connections I need to in my head. sometimes it’s visual but it’s usually pretty abstract and I’m not really very conscious of it. From the outside it probably looks like intuition. I write a lot of things out and sketch things. i have a math heavy degree so pretty sure im not disabled in any kind of way. sometimes I struggle to explain my thought process but not usually. it is equally perplexing to me that people seem to think that verbalization of thoughts is needed to think.
  - jvanderbot 2y ago
    When you consider a paragraph, perhaps to write, how do you plan it before writing? When you reflect on something embarrassing, how could it have gone differently? How do you imagine "I should have done this differently?" Imagine arguing with a friend, now a clone of yourself, now hold two options in your mind (what to have for dinner) and assign a clone to argue for each. Is it possible? You must get this all the time and I'm sorry, but it's so interesting! I'd buy all your beers for weeks just to chat about it.
    - JohnMakin 2y ago
      I don’t get this all the time or get into it because most people don’t understand or dismiss it. I just hope I can explain well enough. When I write it’s almost always flow of consciousness style and I make a lot of mistakes. In online or chat kind of settings it makes me look a little dumber than I am, I mix words up on the spot a lot, it’s probably the closest thing to whatever would be my “internal” narrative, also because I am limited by the speed at which I can type. So when to type a paragraph if I am being serious it usually takes 70+ revisions (not changing what I am saying) for me to consider it perfect. I don’t usually bother and go 1/10th of that for professional writing and tend to be called a decent writer (again, I have to try). So that’s probably the lack of narrative thing. writing my thoughts out helps. I have always kept extensive journals going back to when I was 5 or 6 or whenever I could write. for your second scenario yea that’s a very easy thing for me. I often argue with myself anyway. I mutter out loud sometimes, probably makes me seem a little unhinged but with what I do it fits right in with other “types.” I do visualize and play out scenarios a lot in my head, they are very vivid, and I am pretty proficient at going farther with this with lucid dreaming. Sights/sounds in my head are very easy for me. I just don’t really hear my own voice, or whatever. I think it comes with some downsides with introspection sometimes but I’ve been well aware of this for a while - which is why I think the “argue with yourself with two conflicting arguments” thing is probably easy for me. I am constantly in “arguments” with my own assumptions. I think this last thing is why I’ve always been fairly proficient with abstract math.

LoganDark 2y ago

a long time ago, we actually had to practice in order to be able to speak in our head without speaking out loud. so, in a way, we sort of used not to have an inner monologue, and had to develop one on purpose. now we do have one (though often it's more of an inner dialogue, because DID...)

aucisson_masque 2y ago

Don't you ever think to yourself when waking up 'time to wake up' ? Or when you see someone you don't like 'oh here is that motherfucker' ? I mean the inner voice isn't like a deep discussion between you and you, its spontaneous stuff you just wouldn't say out loud. I have a hard time believing some people don't have it.

Baeocystin 2y ago
Not the person you're asking, but as someone who also doesn't have an inner monologue, no, I literally never think either of those two things you gave as an example. I feel the feelings they describe, but they never bubble up to my thoughts in word form.
bombela 2y ago
I also don't have this internal monologue. But I can talk in my head just fine if I want. But doing so is the same effort as talking out loud. I suspect that it does make articulating my thoughts verbally to other people more difficult since I must go brain thinking to text before speech. That's probably why I prefer textual communication so much more. I can take the time to read, think, and textualize the answer. I also find it incredibly useful to pretend I am teaching in my head; thus producing the text; before going into a meeting on a given topic. Of course anything I haven't thought to reharse, I am now naked. As for your specific example, instead of a concrete set of words about waking up or a specific insult. I simply think a similar concept.
uniq7 2y ago
Language is just a way of encoding semantic meaning. If your brain already knows that it is time to wake up or that it hates that guy, what's the point of encoding a description of that feeling into spoken language and replay it? That sounds inefficient. I have an inner monologue, but most of the time (and especially when I want to work fast), I "disable" it. Then my mind simply works in the "meaning space", where it can leverage other modalities (e.g., visual 3D representations of system behaviors). When I write or talk in formal environments I "enable" it just to double check and polish what I want to say.
- JohnMakin 2y ago
  Language is just a way of encoding semantic meaning - this is a perfect explanation and im going to use it from now on, thanks. yea this is like me too. curious, did you start reading at a very early age? I started around 3. this is what I personally think it is. It’s not like I dont have the ability to hear a narrative in my head, I just dont do it. I’ve suspected that since I began reading so early, it has something to do with it - and if you’re not capable of reading /comprehending as fast as I can, like if you’re literally sounding out every word in your head you’d never be able to keep up with whatever it is I do. I’d be enormously frustrated by that process. But to me this is what “narrative voice people” must do in their heads. or maybe it has to do (for me) being on the spectrum (high functioning)
  - uniq7 2y ago
    > curious, did you start reading at a very early age? I started around 3 I did! I also learnt to read at 3. Your observation was really impressive. I've never thought about it being the cause of my weird quirks, I thought it was actually another consequence/symptom of being wired a bit different, but maybe you are right. Have you ever met anyone else who learnt to read early? Do they also behave like that? I don't know if I'm in the spectrum (I suspect I do, but I don't want to know). In any case, if I do, then I'm also a functioning one. > if you’re literally sounding out every word in your head you’d never be able to keep up with whatever it is I do Another possibility is that they overestimate how much they use their inner monologue without realizing. For example, I really doubt they think "time to move the left leg, now the right leg, now the left..." whenever they walk. Maybe they just don't enter into that "mode" as often as us

RGamma 2y ago

I can't quite get my head around not having an inner monologue. Mine's been around since I can remember. Its absence sounds quite scary to be honest.

groby_b 2y ago
I feel the same way about having somebody constantly chatting in my head :) I'd assume for both of us it's mostly fear of the unknown.
- RGamma 2y ago
  How would you think through complex scenarios otherwise? Like: "How does the current US president influence global welfare?" (relevant, but rather trite, I know). Genuinely curious how you could form an opinion or at least analyze the question without verbalizing the ensuing self-conversation in your mind. Much (abstract) thought is informed by language.
  - madmask 2y ago
    I have no inner monologue unless I switch it on consciously, which I don’t like doing as it slows down thinking by orders of magnitude. In your example, I see things like graphs, numbers, maps, make connections and see possible futures, no explicit words involved. Edit: I also tend to “simulate” what is going to happen by conjuring up a small video of people dealing with the situation, or myself in that situation.
  - whatnow37373 2y ago
    You convert the language statement into semantic space. That's where you do the theorizing and then you convert it back. I can't think in text space. It's way too slow and I very much suck at it. It's hard to see how this works with such a complex question though. By its nature it's actually impossible to put into words. It's my theory that we all think like this, because it's literally impossible to think "in language", but some people need to have it as some type of security blanket and some don't. Every time someone says they have some inner monologue I can ask where this comes from. Your inner monologue also needs a source and that can't be language again. You cannot source all thought you have about this question just from those words alone. Your mind is making all types of connections that might eventually be convertable into words, but are themselves absolutely not verbal.

the_gipsy 2y ago

I know it's bad to say this - lile telling someone who is ill that they are not - but I cannot believe that someone truly has no inner monologue and at the same is capable of expressing complex ideas in writing or speech. What IS there then, if it's not quiet like the author describes? Could it be a lack of introspection? Have you been examined by any kind of specialist or is it self diagnosed?

JohnMakin 2y ago
People have asked me this. I don’t know what to say other than I just make the connections I need to in my head. sometimes it’s visual but it’s usually pretty abstract and I’m not really very conscious of it. From the outside it probably looks like intuition. I write a lot of things out and sketch things. i have a math heavy degree so pretty sure im not disabled in any kind of way. sometimes I struggle to explain my thought process but not usually. it is equally perplexing to me that people seem to think that verbalization of thoughts is needed to think.
- jvanderbot 2y ago
  When you consider a paragraph, perhaps to write, how do you plan it before writing? When you reflect on something embarrassing, how could it have gone differently? How do you imagine "I should have done this differently?" Imagine arguing with a friend, now a clone of yourself, now hold two options in your mind (what to have for dinner) and assign a clone to argue for each. Is it possible? You must get this all the time and I'm sorry, but it's so interesting! I'd buy all your beers for weeks just to chat about it.
  - JohnMakin 2y ago
    I don’t get this all the time or get into it because most people don’t understand or dismiss it. I just hope I can explain well enough. When I write it’s almost always flow of consciousness style and I make a lot of mistakes. In online or chat kind of settings it makes me look a little dumber than I am, I mix words up on the spot a lot, it’s probably the closest thing to whatever would be my “internal” narrative, also because I am limited by the speed at which I can type. So when to type a paragraph if I am being serious it usually takes 70+ revisions (not changing what I am saying) for me to consider it perfect. I don’t usually bother and go 1/10th of that for professional writing and tend to be called a decent writer (again, I have to try). So that’s probably the lack of narrative thing. writing my thoughts out helps. I have always kept extensive journals going back to when I was 5 or 6 or whenever I could write. for your second scenario yea that’s a very easy thing for me. I often argue with myself anyway. I mutter out loud sometimes, probably makes me seem a little unhinged but with what I do it fits right in with other “types.” I do visualize and play out scenarios a lot in my head, they are very vivid, and I am pretty proficient at going farther with this with lucid dreaming. Sights/sounds in my head are very easy for me. I just don’t really hear my own voice, or whatever. I think it comes with some downsides with introspection sometimes but I’ve been well aware of this for a while - which is why I think the “argue with yourself with two conflicting arguments” thing is probably easy for me. I am constantly in “arguments” with my own assumptions. I think this last thing is why I’ve always been fairly proficient with abstract math.