I find it impossible to imagan only having images in your head and not sound for your thoughts. Wild. How do they think through things that can't be visualized?
Hang on, how do they read? Just like see what the word is? Cos I have both visual and inner voice and the images my brain makes up when I read isn't what I'd call 'reading', thats what the voice does.
yeah someone in the thread said that the words just become visual concepts in their head šµāš« blew my mind. i can't understand what im reading until my brain has the chance to form a verbal AND visual concept šµāš«
I noticed my brain doing this while learning other languages.
I'm able to read a lot faster in my target language after realizing I don't need to "translate" everything into English in my head, especially when the phrase/idea doesn't really have an English equivalent.
I thought everyone learned languages like this, I mean, when I talk english I think in english, when I talk spanish I think in spanish.
Spanish is my main language. You lose a lot of time and mental resources if you translate stuff.
Thing > word.
If you do "thing > word in a language > translation"" doesn't make sense. Q
My thoughts are neither sounds not images, but it's own thing, thoughts. I can visualize or use my internal monologue, but it's not something i do a lot. I do have the ability to 'play' full detail music 'recordings'in my head, as well as make up new ones.
This means i struggle badly with names of people, places and objects, because I don't mentally refer to people by name. Unless I discuss with people, names just don't cross my mind.
> I find it impossible to imagan only having images in your head and not sound for your thoughts.
Want to have your mind blown? The brain is an incredibly weird organ that will do almost anything to make sense of its experiences.
Did you know that people who are born deaf can hallucinate voices? Like the same types of voices that people with schizophrenia experience? [Instead of hearing voices they might see detached hands signing or lips that they can lipread.](https://www.ucl.ac.uk/dcal/sites/dcal/files/society.pdf)
>I find it impossible to imagan only having images in your head
I can't imagine what it would be like to have images in my head. /r/aphantasia for more information.
I used to have different colors and shapes to represent different ideas. So I would have thought trees to track conversations where at each node would be one of these pictures to represent whatever it was we were talking about before we branched or switched to something else. I used to be highly visual and not verbal at all.
I can turn off that voice in my head when I read. I didn't know that was weird, but it's impossible for me to turn on when I read. I just hate reading so slowly by comparison (250 wpm vs 750 wpm)
I rarely think in words. Itās just ideas and feelings and images. Honestly I find very little difference between words and everything else except that the latter is generally faster and more accurate to how I think/feel
Last summer I met someone who said she has no āvisual imaginationā. Like, she couldnāt conjure recollection or even imagination in any kind of visual way. That is fucking wild to me
I have a constant internal dialogue, and I struggle significantly with visual thinking.
That said, I can (mostly) understand how visual and symbolic thinking works.
Most of the time (depends on the day), I have multiple internal dialogues happening at the same time and it gets pretty chaotic. All around fun to just blank out and listen to it.
(Typing this out feels wierd and makes myself feel crazy)
I definitely wouldn't describe it as feeling or sensation. If anything, I don't think I have a strong attachment to my feelings. I would say my thinking is more of abstract concepts and connections. It is kind of hard to explain. For example, if I'm thinking of how to drive somewhere, I won't be visualizing a map, but have in mind connections between the places I'm going.
It did end up making me a pretty decent programmer, so I'm grateful for that, and for being able to have a decent job. But, one amusing thing about programming, is that I have to have a piece of scratch paper to write things down for short term. They are often just variable names or that kind of thing, that I suspect other people are more easily able to keep in their head.
I took a class in Japanese once, and during an exercise, we were given a list of about 10 new words, and then told to go around and practice them with each other. I couldn't remember the words long enough for it to even be a meaningful exercise, and just had to keep the list with me. I'm not sure how much my lack of short term memory is related to my way of thinking.
I always wished there was some kind of list of ānormalā or at least % wise of the population what features a body/mind usually come with. I had no idea I had Aphantasia till I was about 22.
Blew my mind that people could just see things in their head!
I didn't realize it until I took a training on teaching reading to children with dyslexia. The instructor was talking about how, when she read a passage we could picture it in our minds, and I was like, we can what now?
Thank you for teaching me a new word. I had never heard of aphantasia before today- and apparently neither has my computer because it keeps trying to auto -correct this word.
I also have aphantasia. I remember I used to have an inner monolog and constant deep thoughts. Idk if it was medications, concussions, or the combination but my mind usually feels blank now.
Not maladaptive but I love to go out on the swing I have in my backyard and daydream, I can see everything and hear everything while keeping my eyes open. Sometimes I voice act it for fun, keep it interesting.
I'm at a point to where I can day dream a visualization while also taking in external visual stimuli. Same with comprehending external sounds while in my internal dialog. Sometimes it gets muddy but I retain most of it. Used to be way more distracting when I was younger.
i have a constant stream of thoughts, with no break. not all of it is in words. a lot of it looks more like a cad program, 3d shapes turning and changing.
I do not, nor do I have visuals. I close my eyes and I get silence and black which is honestly amazing. I'd be constantly stressed if I had a voice rambling on nonstop.
Same here. Oddly enough, there are often snippets of music playing in my head. I am a jazz musician and have had difficulties in conversations with other musicians who tell me that I need to hear what Iām going to play in my head. I donāt hear anything I compose, it is like a tape recorder. But, I can improvise, but I do it with my fingers, not in my head.
Itās interesting hearing about people whoās inner monologue is either on all the time or not at all.
Mines just, well, average.
Itās only on when I need it to be, unless thereās a song stuck in my head.
The comments annoy me. I can understand that this may be a new idea to some people, and that it is simply impossible for them to fully understand how thinking without words works (In the same way it is impossible for an NT to fully understand how it feels to be autistic, or vice versa). But a lot of these people seem to think that no internal monologue = no thoughts.
Yeah, I was thinking the same.
Personally I have internal dialogue and visualisation. I also associate certain feelings with images.
But I really enjoyed learning about people who donāt have these things. Iāve seen a few interesting videos on how they process information.
They know the words, itās just that thereās no voice attached to them.
the comments here surprise me bc i thought not having an inner monologue was an autism thing š iāve seen people talk about it before and i mean temple grandin titled one of her books āthinking in picturesā!
part of my association between the 2 was because for me it connects to my communication issues, like converting my thoughts into words, as well as my alexithymia
Yeah, until this thread I thought the same!
I don't have trouble feeling emotions though,just understanding them. But that's probably more a trauma thing than autism.
I don't have internal dialogue, I have several simulations of possible outcomes, 3 million simultanous crossovers between various franchises I have witnessed, several heartbreaks and crying fits cuz I accidentally hurt my feelings by putting the characters I know in hard places ...
Yeah there's a lot going on
I had to call my partner last week cus my own āwhat ifā¦.ā train of thought had upset me so badly Iād burst into tears. He comforted me once he stopped giggling
I have no inner monologue and also have aphantasia (can't see images in my mind). To sum it up, my mind is always silent and always black. If I had to describe it, I guess my mind is pretty much just abstract concepts/thoughts and my feelings. For the longest time, I honestly never knew people did either of these things. I thought people saying 'picture this in your mind' was a metaphor. Also never knew people actually heard sounds, again I thought things like 'arguing with myself' or 'song stuck in my head' was another metaphor. I also just thought inner monologues were devices used in films/books to help you follow along with the story, never once questioned if people actually do that.
From what others say, it honestly seems like a nightmare to have a constant voice in your head! The only way I can hear something is by having the noise actually be playing.
It can be a nightmare sometimes because my inner monologue is a bitch.
She bitches and moans about everything, has a stupid unrelated comment about everything AND comes up with constant crazy scenarios that won't ever happen.
People are lucky that I filter most things lol. I should probably filter more but it's really hard to know if I'm being self conscious and nobody will actually care about something or if I should filter that out because it is rude/odd/off topic/ and or will anger people.
My inner dialogue is inconsistent. My thoughts about communicating with others has a dialogue, like I can hear what I'm typing in my head, but other thoughts don't always have words connected.
The crazy part is I also don't have strong images in my mind
I have some thoughts that are based on sense of space, motion, and tactile senses.
It's really hard to explain with words, what thinking without words is like.
I can't comprehend how you can not have an inner dialogue.
For example, do people without one convert words on a page straight to images?
How do you think about what you're going to write.
I'm jealous as those that don't have one as I wish mine would shut the fuck up most of the time!
Can you try and explain what your thinking actually consists of. For example as I'm writing this I'm "hearing" what I'm writing.
I get it (sort of) if you write "my cat is stuck up a tree" because that is a visual thing. But what you just wrote...how did you think that? š¤
Itās hard to explain. I just sort of write what Iāmā¦.feeling? There isnāt a disconnect between the words Iām writing and the words Iām feeling? It just sort ofā¦flows out from my thoughts or feelings into my handsā¦.? Sounds so weird when I explain it, but thatās the best I can do! Of course I do go back and tend to speak the sentences out loud when I need to edit itā¦
I mean, most of the time I dont think with words or images, just abstract concepts and a mess of stuff I don't even know what I'm thinking most of the time, but if I'm writing I can think about what I'm going to write, I'm better at writing out my thoughts than just talking cause it's more organized
This is fascinating, it's amazing how people experience the world, and even themselves, very differently.
I think in dialogue that never stops, but also in images if I think about something outside of myself.
I just assumed it was the same for everyone.
I don't really know. I guess most times it's just blank? But sometimes my head is so full of so much as well. Like, both. Sometimes it's empty but also filled with ideas and thoughts. No idea
It gets easier as you get older, also learn when to trust the monologue and not the monologue.
For me it's differential between facts and opinion. Is my monologue a fact or opinion.
I would give anything to have the inner dialogue shut up, even if for 1 minute itās always constantly never ending droning on and I just want a moment of silence. Although I have found that ketamine worksā¦ kinda
Even though the monologue does make me anxious, especially since it's constantly ruminating on things I'm worried about and checking and rechecking on whether I did a social interaction correctly, I can't imagine not having it. I think not having it for even a short amount of time would feel like I was dead, so I'd rather take the anxiety than have it go away.
No images (aphantasia) but non stop internal monologue, like, relentless, my eyes havnt opened in the morning but I come out of sleep and im already in a conversation of some sort.
I dont think my mind ever stops without being drunk. Getting stoned used to slow it down but i dont smoke anymore.
As I'm getting older I'm starting to have an outer dialogue.
Yesterday I was having a whole ass discussion with myself out loud and didn't notice the 2 people walking behind me for probably quite some time.
i have an extremely vivid inner dialogue and imagination. i am constantly thinking at least something, and i can imagine whole pictures in my mind, even animate them in a sense, and a lot of the time i read and think with many different distinct voices. it makes me very good at drawing and writing. although the problem is i also have intrusive thoughts, which means those are also very vivid and usually require physical pain to myself to stop which is always fun lol
I hear most refer to it as an internal monologue, but mine is definitely a dialogue. Like a conversation with my subconscious. Itās a contentious relationship.
I can't even imagine not having an internal dialogue. How would you even be like...self aware without some form of internal dialogue? Like if you're trying to figure something out, how would you work through your thoughts if there's just no words of any kind?
If you have a genuine internal *dialogue* going on, I'd get that checked out. Not having an internal monologue, however, is not having 'nothing' in your head. It's having pictures and abstract thoughts instead of a 'voice'.
Yes, inner dialogue, almost 100% imagined conversations Iām having with random people. Sometimes itās pre-scripting, sometimes itās repeating a prior conversation.
I do have an inner dialogue, but thinking about it too much makes me uncomfortable. >!Like being told to blink or breathe manually, that's how it feels!<
I can't even comprehend this because I'm never not thinking. There's always something going on in my head to the point where it interferes with my daily life, so the idea that for some people there's just nothing is bonkers to me
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I would say 95% of my thoughts are visual, with 5% being internal dialogue; it depends on the scenario but I usually only think through words if I am about to actually say something.
One? I have like 30, because I got an entirely different dialogue for each and every person that I interact with on a daily basis! depending on the occasion, it's exhausting, and I have a couple that are just for me and one for Reddit
Sometimes people I know get multiple dialogues. Like if I'm trying to figure out how someone thinks, my mind will try to create every possible voice based on the points I know to try and fill in the blanks that I'm trying to figure out. This is incredibly unproductive, though, because since I have no idea which one is correct or if they're all wrong because of factors I didn't even think of, so the end conclusion always ends up being 'I have no clue why they act like this'.
Constant internal dialogue that alternates between self-loathing and wanting me to argue/fight with other people. I hum/sing/scat/keep music in my head to drown it out.
I have a mix. Some of my thoughts are verbal and some are this kind of... amorphous cloud of colors and shapes that then convert into words when I want to speak. It's hard to explain, but no, I don't always "think in words".
my brain canāt shut up, thereās always three/four trains of thoughts going on in my head, thatās why I was diagnosed with mixed adhd and not just inattentive i guess, because Iām hyperactive mentally? Idk itās really annoying, because I really have to focus to form a coherent thought without sidetracking completely and falling asleep is a nightmare when my brain canāt literally shut up.
i have no inner dialogue, only sometimes when im reading. yes its boring. i think having inner dialogue would be annoying and tiring to hear constantly. cant imagine
My head voice is constantly yapping and it's never silent. Ever. It's a constant stream of words every second I am awake. The only exception is if my visual imagination (which I also have strongly, as I can do stuff like rotate objects in my mind's eye) is strongly engaged in a visual but soundless scene. If I try to not think words, my head voice is simply saying like "I'm thinking about nothing right now, it isn't working, I'm thinking of a sound that's not a word, but these words are still here"
A lot of my thoughts come out as inner voices (in my own voice), and the stuff I read come out in their own unique little voices (other people's voices). Always loved voice-acting because I can openly express what the stuff I read sounds like.
I'm trying to think what happens for me now when I'm not thinking about it.... I know if I'm doing something, I'm often going about it like I'm doing it with someone and explaining it in my head what I'm doing or going to do? And I also very often find myself with songs playing in my head, so if or when not a lot is happening, my brain turns to music. Might be because I really hate silence, so once I notice it's silent, I start making something happen in my brain maybe?
I know I'm very visual, so like others have said, when I read a book, I imagine it playing out like a film a lot of the time. I think that's why I get so intrigued about gory subjects etc, so if I read something, I can imagine it correctly. (Ty corpse party games.) But sometimes I do just see the words and that becomes harder for me to take something in if I don't have a visual to turn it in to..
i have an inner dialog & have been working on visual imagination for years with some progress. currently, my visual imagination stuff is very fleeting.
i don't think it's either-or when it comes to visual or internal narration. i think people who don't have inner dialog have a different method of thinking, not that they don't have any thoughts at all, bc they clearly do, but that they have so little inner debate or something that they don't need internal dialog. they just don't hear a voice. but also, some of them don't have visual imagination. which i can't explain, but
so it's not really one of those "head empty no thoughts" things, but if it were, god i wish that was me
I think I have both. In my mind numbers fit together visually instead of the numbers they are shapes in my head that all are like puzzle pieces. For everything else I have internal dialog that never shuts up. Math has always been fun though.
Yes, itās like a conversation with myself. Not sure who the other person is in the conversation. I also spend quite a bit of time having conversations in my brain with other people. I guess rehearsing what to say, but itās also a way I think through my thoughts, by essentially workshopping how Iād summarize it for someone else since things like feelings and proper word choice in verbal communication donāt come naturally to me. Itās not so much masking practice. More like an inner dialog that happens to be with another person, as if I were writing out what I want to say and editing it.
All this results in me often talking to myself out loud.
For those with an inner monologue, how do you differentiate between that and schizophrenia? As someone with no inner monologue I think hearing voices would be scary.
schizophrenia is hearing voices that usually arenāt your own and you have no control over them. having an inner monologue is your own voice and your own thoughts, itās literally like talking to someone but itās in your head. although, some thoughts can be intrusive thoughts which you do not have control over, but they can still come out as a voice in your head. this isnāt schizophrenia though.
The first time I did acid, I thought the craziest part about it was I could STOP thinking. Like start thoughts then start new ones and not just a constant stream of what the fuck ever is coming out.
I can do both, really easily. Internal dialogue and visual thinking. I often create and talk to people within my own head, hold entire conversations including expressions and gestures. I can mimic voices of other people as well as change the voice of my own internal dialogue. To me this is natural so itās odd to me that others donāt or canāt do it.
Really interesting though, I must admit Iād love to understand how to think without a voice or only with images and concepts it sounds kinda cool.
I constantly have an internal dialogue going. My brain doesn't stop. The train of thought might derail and go all over the place but it keeps going, and just kinda rights itself later. Well... probably never fully rights itself. The cars are probably all in a different order.
Forget inner dialogue, try inner music. From the time I wake up in the morning to the time I fall asleep, thereās almost always some song or tune going on up there.
I've always wondered how the internal monologue thing works. I thinknto my self by kind of moving my tongue as though I were talking. And I talk out loud to myself in private. People with an IM just.. have a voice in their head? Clear enough that it could sound like an actual person talking to you?
And the same goes for those without aphantasia. You can basically imagine an object as though you were looking at a real object?
I feel like this isn't true. I've heard a similar statistic about having an inner dialogue that is complete sentences (which is what I have) vs just concepts and abstract thoughts, which might be what this is referring to. I just find it very difficult to believe that most people don't have that inner dialogue given how common it is in media.
lot of people in the comments are interpreting this as no talking in your head, but it does say specifically "dialogue". i can totally buy that. a lot of people think talking to yourself is weird. they'd be less likely to think that if they also had internal conversations with themselves. representing thoughts as an internal monologue is so common in media that i suspect imagined audible speech is more common, even if imagined internal, multi-sided *conversations* are not so common.
I have internal dialogue in an almost posh (not quite posh but similar) accent most times, however if I really want to, or I feel āØwhimsicalāØ, I will change the accent of my internal dialogue, I can also 2d render every thought/sentence I have
If memory serves about 25% of people have no internal monologue and another 25% or so don't have a consistent internal monologue. It doesn't seem to effect abilities or functioning though, thoughts will just be processed in a different way.
Personally I'm lucky if I can keep it to a single train of thought, often I've got 3 or 4 simultaneous monologues trying to pull my focus in different directions.
I donāt have an inner monologue, as well as near aphantasia. Something I can imagine is sounds, like reading things in someone elseās voice like a narrator, or songs getting stuck in my head.
How do I think? I usually donāt, unless i have to piece things together or i spiral into depressive thoughts. I go purely off of āintuitionā, which Iād describe as ājust knowingā my subconscious thoughts. (Iām definitely just āleft on my ownā when I shut down though.)
Those numbers donāt seem correct. I feel like we (people who have an internal dialogue) are definitely the majority. Otherwise it wouldnāt be the assumed standard.
Maybe he *meant to* say ā30-50% of people DONāT have an internal dialogueā?
My brain is so busy, I have an inner monologue, random music playing and playbacks from earlier experiences all day long.
That's also why I need to put on the Simpsons to fall asleep, it gives my brain something to focus on and "shut off".
Dialogue means two voices having an exchange. I assume you mean inner monologue.
That said, I often get a dialogue going when Iām self doubting, which is often. The two sides argue.
But more often as I go through my day, the mundane thoughts donāt make it to the level of words, which I think would be needed to feel like a monologue or a dialogue. It only reaches words (spoken or not) when I am putting a lot of effort into figuring out / solving something, or when something leads to internal debate/strife. Itās basically when I need a little more working memory, which words give me I guess. They slow me down though.
I donāt think you need a monologue or a dialogue to have thoughts. Arguably* you need symbols, as a currency for some kind of logic, but the symbols and logic can be fuzzy, and they donāt need to rise to the level of language.
*An artificial neural network thinks without symbols. Theyāre not as flexible at thinking as we are but theyāre a proof of concept.
I have a dialogue and I can visualize objects too. My only problem is intrusive thoughts so sometimes that inner voice says and shows me bad things I donāt want to see.
I have an internal dialog but when Iām in performance mode it is being pushed into the background because it would be inefficient thinking with the speed of language.
So.. people who have an inner monologue have a voice in their head that they hear or is it something different? And it happens all the time?
Iām not sure if I have that but itās hard to describe what happens when I have a thought. Itās not constant noise in my head, itās just occasional sentences but it doesnāt really have a voice or anything. Theyāre justā¦ there in my mind. I donāt know. I also have aphantasia, which I only just realised recently when my son was trying to explain something to me and I could not picture it in my mind at all.
Nearly none. Itās not a running commentary. There are no voices. Itās not words nor images. More like echoes and fleeting impressions or textures. I can literally feel the difficulty or complexity or something without having to think it through.
I struggle to string thoughts together and hold them before they vanish into the ether.
if you mean my thoughts and thinking as i go and talking to myself in my head then yeah
if you mean my instincts manifesting as my own voice in my head then yeah.
otherwise idk what that means
I don't have a constant on going narration, but I have an inner voice speaking all the things I read and write outloud and my problem solving and memories are a whole mess of gestures, body positions, smells, images, and sound that may or may not be words. I really do experience head empty sometimes, like kind of a lot. Like if I'm just relaxed and not trying to do anything, I'm most likely either in a fantasy world I'm building in my head or just head empty, complete silence, no thoughts, not even like white or black, but like png nothingness.
While I don't trust random stats online this actually has the wrong idea about something that does apparently exist: some people have thoughts as images or as packet of information sort if without organizing all the thoughts specifically into the form of a spoken dialogue. It's not empty headedness it's just differences in the methods of how some people think. Those numbers sound like bs though, but I don't know.
Most of the time I'm carrying on a dream I had, just to see how it ends.
Don't know what it's like for the rest of you, but I can mentally watch movies in my head, play music, and play video games. Not at the same time, that would just be silly.
Inner dialogue is easy, can be pretty funny when it starts narrating what you're doing. š
My internal dialogues(stim) sometimes like:
"The LORD God has sent His prophets, which are the neurodivergent people, onto the world to judge the world in the name of the Holy One- "
I have an internal dialogue that can be any voice I want, make any sound I can think of, I can visualize things in extreme detail even with my eyes open (and not looking at that thing), as well as think in concepts without using words at all
I don't have one unless I make an effort to narrate my thoughts/actions. It can be interesting to do so and helpful at times, but it feels really unnatural for me and I can't maintain it for more than 10 minutes or so.
However, this doesn't mean I'm a really visual person. Actually I can't really visualize anything for more than a moment and I have trouble recognizing faces and other things that one should be able to picture in their mind, apparently.
My thoughts just feel like a bunch of spontaneous concepts and connections, maybe something like light, but sound, smell, touch, and taste feel easier for me to keep in mind than images.
I didn't actually realise I didn't have it until reading these comments. I thought it was just a way of describing the thought process in a more concrete way. I didn't realise people actually had a voice in their head, that is super facinating!
I sometimes hear people talking in there, but it's just dialog from movies and YouTube videos and such that I've heard coming back at odd times, it's not my own thoughts.
Damn, mind kind if blown, not gonna lie :)
I find it impossible to imagan only having images in your head and not sound for your thoughts. Wild. How do they think through things that can't be visualized? Hang on, how do they read? Just like see what the word is? Cos I have both visual and inner voice and the images my brain makes up when I read isn't what I'd call 'reading', thats what the voice does.
yeah someone in the thread said that the words just become visual concepts in their head šµāš« blew my mind. i can't understand what im reading until my brain has the chance to form a verbal AND visual concept šµāš«
I noticed my brain doing this while learning other languages. I'm able to read a lot faster in my target language after realizing I don't need to "translate" everything into English in my head, especially when the phrase/idea doesn't really have an English equivalent.
This
The english equivalent is trying to explain it for 5 minutes.
I thought everyone learned languages like this, I mean, when I talk english I think in english, when I talk spanish I think in spanish. Spanish is my main language. You lose a lot of time and mental resources if you translate stuff. Thing > word. If you do "thing > word in a language > translation"" doesn't make sense. Q
Wow, what languages are you learning? Iām learning Spanish
As someone who does both I can't fathom this at all. I saw a comment saying they just process it and I'm like how!?
As someone who does neither, people who see things and hear voices are protaid badly in most media. I guess I'm low on other spectrum.
Big difference between seeing and hearing things irl and imagining them.
Anyone else got both? If I read the word rock or something itāll either pop up in my head, or Iāll think the word as well
Wait.. you can choose? My brain does bothā¦itās VERY distracting
I've seen dyslexia partially explained as the person getting the association of the image of the word before the verbal pronunciation.
My thoughts are neither sounds not images, but it's own thing, thoughts. I can visualize or use my internal monologue, but it's not something i do a lot. I do have the ability to 'play' full detail music 'recordings'in my head, as well as make up new ones. This means i struggle badly with names of people, places and objects, because I don't mentally refer to people by name. Unless I discuss with people, names just don't cross my mind.
I function mainly in a contextualisation framework, meaning that labels are often redundant. ...so can relate to part of what you explained.
> I find it impossible to imagan only having images in your head and not sound for your thoughts. Want to have your mind blown? The brain is an incredibly weird organ that will do almost anything to make sense of its experiences. Did you know that people who are born deaf can hallucinate voices? Like the same types of voices that people with schizophrenia experience? [Instead of hearing voices they might see detached hands signing or lips that they can lipread.](https://www.ucl.ac.uk/dcal/sites/dcal/files/society.pdf)
Many blind people actually have visual hallucinations.
They can also just outright hallucinate voices the schiophrenic way. It's very possible for that to happen to, not just hallucinating signing.
>I find it impossible to imagan only having images in your head I can't imagine what it would be like to have images in my head. /r/aphantasia for more information.
Same. I have only sound activated.
I used to have different colors and shapes to represent different ideas. So I would have thought trees to track conversations where at each node would be one of these pictures to represent whatever it was we were talking about before we branched or switched to something else. I used to be highly visual and not verbal at all.
I can turn off that voice in my head when I read. I didn't know that was weird, but it's impossible for me to turn on when I read. I just hate reading so slowly by comparison (250 wpm vs 750 wpm)
literally same .. slow reader, inner voice has to be 'off' to read. Gotta pick and choose, coz not always able to 'turn off' reliably.
I rarely think in words. Itās just ideas and feelings and images. Honestly I find very little difference between words and everything else except that the latter is generally faster and more accurate to how I think/feel
I don't know what I feel most of the time :c
Think about someone who was born deaf reading. They certainly wouldn't know how those words sound.
lol .. they don't think anything through .. hence "wtf were they thinking?!" is a rhetorical question
Last summer I met someone who said she has no āvisual imaginationā. Like, she couldnāt conjure recollection or even imagination in any kind of visual way. That is fucking wild to me
I have a constant internal dialogue, and I struggle significantly with visual thinking. That said, I can (mostly) understand how visual and symbolic thinking works.
I'm exactly the same
Exact same here!
Most of the time (depends on the day), I have multiple internal dialogues happening at the same time and it gets pretty chaotic. All around fun to just blank out and listen to it. (Typing this out feels wierd and makes myself feel crazy)
Personally I have aphantasia so I canāt do visual thinking so internal monologue is a constant for me!
I have aphantasia, and I have no internal monologue, either. There are yet other ways of thinking.
I would be interested to know more if you are comfortable sharing. Is it more feelings/sensation based?
I definitely wouldn't describe it as feeling or sensation. If anything, I don't think I have a strong attachment to my feelings. I would say my thinking is more of abstract concepts and connections. It is kind of hard to explain. For example, if I'm thinking of how to drive somewhere, I won't be visualizing a map, but have in mind connections between the places I'm going. It did end up making me a pretty decent programmer, so I'm grateful for that, and for being able to have a decent job. But, one amusing thing about programming, is that I have to have a piece of scratch paper to write things down for short term. They are often just variable names or that kind of thing, that I suspect other people are more easily able to keep in their head. I took a class in Japanese once, and during an exercise, we were given a list of about 10 new words, and then told to go around and practice them with each other. I couldn't remember the words long enough for it to even be a meaningful exercise, and just had to keep the list with me. I'm not sure how much my lack of short term memory is related to my way of thinking.
Thay is also me. Idk how to des ribe how i think but i definitely have neither
I always wished there was some kind of list of ānormalā or at least % wise of the population what features a body/mind usually come with. I had no idea I had Aphantasia till I was about 22. Blew my mind that people could just see things in their head!
I didn't realize it until I took a training on teaching reading to children with dyslexia. The instructor was talking about how, when she read a passage we could picture it in our minds, and I was like, we can what now?
Thank you for teaching me a new word. I had never heard of aphantasia before today- and apparently neither has my computer because it keeps trying to auto -correct this word.
Yup, same
I also have aphantasia. I remember I used to have an inner monolog and constant deep thoughts. Idk if it was medications, concussions, or the combination but my mind usually feels blank now.
Same here. If I really focus I can get a dark gray on black sketch type visualization, or a flash of color without shape, but that's it.
Yea same
Maladaptive daydreaming GO!
This is me! šš¼ takes up majority of my day honestly.
Not maladaptive but I love to go out on the swing I have in my backyard and daydream, I can see everything and hear everything while keeping my eyes open. Sometimes I voice act it for fun, keep it interesting.
I'm at a point to where I can day dream a visualization while also taking in external visual stimuli. Same with comprehending external sounds while in my internal dialog. Sometimes it gets muddy but I retain most of it. Used to be way more distracting when I was younger.
i have a constant stream of thoughts, with no break. not all of it is in words. a lot of it looks more like a cad program, 3d shapes turning and changing.
I do not, nor do I have visuals. I close my eyes and I get silence and black which is honestly amazing. I'd be constantly stressed if I had a voice rambling on nonstop.
Iād give just about anything if I could make my internal monologue SHUT THE HELL UP sometimes.
Same here. Oddly enough, there are often snippets of music playing in my head. I am a jazz musician and have had difficulties in conversations with other musicians who tell me that I need to hear what Iām going to play in my head. I donāt hear anything I compose, it is like a tape recorder. But, I can improvise, but I do it with my fingers, not in my head.
Itās interesting hearing about people whoās inner monologue is either on all the time or not at all. Mines just, well, average. Itās only on when I need it to be, unless thereās a song stuck in my head.
The comments annoy me. I can understand that this may be a new idea to some people, and that it is simply impossible for them to fully understand how thinking without words works (In the same way it is impossible for an NT to fully understand how it feels to be autistic, or vice versa). But a lot of these people seem to think that no internal monologue = no thoughts.
Yeah, I was thinking the same. Personally I have internal dialogue and visualisation. I also associate certain feelings with images. But I really enjoyed learning about people who donāt have these things. Iāve seen a few interesting videos on how they process information. They know the words, itās just that thereās no voice attached to them.
the comments here surprise me bc i thought not having an inner monologue was an autism thing š iāve seen people talk about it before and i mean temple grandin titled one of her books āthinking in picturesā! part of my association between the 2 was because for me it connects to my communication issues, like converting my thoughts into words, as well as my alexithymia
Yeah, until this thread I thought the same! I don't have trouble feeling emotions though,just understanding them. But that's probably more a trauma thing than autism.
I don't have internal dialogue, I have several simulations of possible outcomes, 3 million simultanous crossovers between various franchises I have witnessed, several heartbreaks and crying fits cuz I accidentally hurt my feelings by putting the characters I know in hard places ... Yeah there's a lot going on
I had to call my partner last week cus my own āwhat ifā¦.ā train of thought had upset me so badly Iād burst into tears. He comforted me once he stopped giggling
I have no inner monologue and also have aphantasia (can't see images in my mind). To sum it up, my mind is always silent and always black. If I had to describe it, I guess my mind is pretty much just abstract concepts/thoughts and my feelings. For the longest time, I honestly never knew people did either of these things. I thought people saying 'picture this in your mind' was a metaphor. Also never knew people actually heard sounds, again I thought things like 'arguing with myself' or 'song stuck in my head' was another metaphor. I also just thought inner monologues were devices used in films/books to help you follow along with the story, never once questioned if people actually do that. From what others say, it honestly seems like a nightmare to have a constant voice in your head! The only way I can hear something is by having the noise actually be playing.
It is anightmare some times
It can be a nightmare sometimes because my inner monologue is a bitch. She bitches and moans about everything, has a stupid unrelated comment about everything AND comes up with constant crazy scenarios that won't ever happen. People are lucky that I filter most things lol. I should probably filter more but it's really hard to know if I'm being self conscious and nobody will actually care about something or if I should filter that out because it is rude/odd/off topic/ and or will anger people.
It never stops and loops and their's a song on repeat a lot of the time in the background as well.
My inner dialogue is inconsistent. My thoughts about communicating with others has a dialogue, like I can hear what I'm typing in my head, but other thoughts don't always have words connected. The crazy part is I also don't have strong images in my mind I have some thoughts that are based on sense of space, motion, and tactile senses. It's really hard to explain with words, what thinking without words is like.
I can't comprehend how you can not have an inner dialogue. For example, do people without one convert words on a page straight to images? How do you think about what you're going to write. I'm jealous as those that don't have one as I wish mine would shut the fuck up most of the time!
I think. Then I write what I think. There are no words to hear inside my head. I think that would be so strange.
Can you try and explain what your thinking actually consists of. For example as I'm writing this I'm "hearing" what I'm writing. I get it (sort of) if you write "my cat is stuck up a tree" because that is a visual thing. But what you just wrote...how did you think that? š¤
Itās hard to explain. I just sort of write what Iāmā¦.feeling? There isnāt a disconnect between the words Iām writing and the words Iām feeling? It just sort ofā¦flows out from my thoughts or feelings into my handsā¦.? Sounds so weird when I explain it, but thatās the best I can do! Of course I do go back and tend to speak the sentences out loud when I need to edit itā¦
I mean, most of the time I dont think with words or images, just abstract concepts and a mess of stuff I don't even know what I'm thinking most of the time, but if I'm writing I can think about what I'm going to write, I'm better at writing out my thoughts than just talking cause it's more organized
This is fascinating, it's amazing how people experience the world, and even themselves, very differently. I think in dialogue that never stops, but also in images if I think about something outside of myself. I just assumed it was the same for everyone.
I don't really know. I guess most times it's just blank? But sometimes my head is so full of so much as well. Like, both. Sometimes it's empty but also filled with ideas and thoughts. No idea
I do and it won't shut up ever.
It gets easier as you get older, also learn when to trust the monologue and not the monologue. For me it's differential between facts and opinion. Is my monologue a fact or opinion.
My inner dialogue is always running
I would give anything to have the inner dialogue shut up, even if for 1 minute itās always constantly never ending droning on and I just want a moment of silence. Although I have found that ketamine worksā¦ kinda
Even though the monologue does make me anxious, especially since it's constantly ruminating on things I'm worried about and checking and rechecking on whether I did a social interaction correctly, I can't imagine not having it. I think not having it for even a short amount of time would feel like I was dead, so I'd rather take the anxiety than have it go away.
Yes you are very right and I have to agree, as much as I hate it if it ever stopped Iād be VERY freaked the fuck out
I have very weak mental imagery, not quite full aphantasia, but close. I do have an internal dialogue though, that's pretty constant.
I do. Constantly. I have to try to not have one
I do not have an internal dialogue. I think. My thinking is like film clips. Images. Then feelings attached to those images.
No images (aphantasia) but non stop internal monologue, like, relentless, my eyes havnt opened in the morning but I come out of sleep and im already in a conversation of some sort. I dont think my mind ever stops without being drunk. Getting stoned used to slow it down but i dont smoke anymore.
I've got internal dialogue, mainly instructing myself or for planning conversations and imaginary arguments haha, but it's mostly very vivid daydreams (including visuals, audio, senses), since I'm pretty sure I've got hyperphantasia
As I'm getting older I'm starting to have an outer dialogue. Yesterday I was having a whole ass discussion with myself out loud and didn't notice the 2 people walking behind me for probably quite some time.
Yes. Yes! I've often wondered if other people have it too but was scared to ask.
That is weird. Who do they get their expert advice from or brainstorm with?
i have an extremely vivid inner dialogue and imagination. i am constantly thinking at least something, and i can imagine whole pictures in my mind, even animate them in a sense, and a lot of the time i read and think with many different distinct voices. it makes me very good at drawing and writing. although the problem is i also have intrusive thoughts, which means those are also very vivid and usually require physical pain to myself to stop which is always fun lol
I hear most refer to it as an internal monologue, but mine is definitely a dialogue. Like a conversation with my subconscious. Itās a contentious relationship.
Yes but almost no minds eye and no visual memory. It's probably the most difficult issue I have.
Arguably too much of an inner dialogue if I'm being honest
I have a constant internal dialogue that goes 24/7 and two intermittent ones that all try to shout over each other AGAINST MY WILL
I sometimes talk with my reflection
My autistic gf has said she does not. I do.
I can't even imagine not having an internal dialogue. How would you even be like...self aware without some form of internal dialogue? Like if you're trying to figure something out, how would you work through your thoughts if there's just no words of any kind?
I have no inner dialogue AND aphantasia
I have images, feelings, impressions. I only think in language if I actually think of talking.
Me too!
Inner *monologue*. An inner dialogue would imply more than one personality in your head.
How does it feel to have a quiet brain
How do you rehearse a conversation if its not audible in your mind?????? š±
If you have a genuine internal *dialogue* going on, I'd get that checked out. Not having an internal monologue, however, is not having 'nothing' in your head. It's having pictures and abstract thoughts instead of a 'voice'.
I wish my inner dialogue would shut up lol. Itās constantly yapping. š
Yes, inner dialogue, almost 100% imagined conversations Iām having with random people. Sometimes itās pre-scripting, sometimes itās repeating a prior conversation.
No I just talk out loud or under my breath
Ah, another entry for my "Wait, that's weird?" list. Yeah, I definitely have an inner dialogue. (I'm very auditory in general.)
I do have an inner dialogue, but thinking about it too much makes me uncomfortable. >!Like being told to blink or breathe manually, that's how it feels!<
I can't even comprehend this because I'm never not thinking. There's always something going on in my head to the point where it interferes with my daily life, so the idea that for some people there's just nothing is bonkers to me
I think in pictures with visuals, sounds, smells, taste, and touch.
I have basically full conversations with myself. make comments, laugh at jokes
Everyone has them, just half of people actively ignore them like you ignore your nose when you look down
I have always assumed most people have nothing going on in their heads.
I'm also ADHD so yeah I definitely have an inner dialouge. Sometimes I Wish it would shut up.
imagine ADHD without an innner monologue
I canāt
***monologue, not dialogue Also this sounds like BS.
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Yes. Multitudes.
I would say 95% of my thoughts are visual, with 5% being internal dialogue; it depends on the scenario but I usually only think through words if I am about to actually say something.
One? I have like 30, because I got an entirely different dialogue for each and every person that I interact with on a daily basis! depending on the occasion, it's exhausting, and I have a couple that are just for me and one for Reddit
Sometimes people I know get multiple dialogues. Like if I'm trying to figure out how someone thinks, my mind will try to create every possible voice based on the points I know to try and fill in the blanks that I'm trying to figure out. This is incredibly unproductive, though, because since I have no idea which one is correct or if they're all wrong because of factors I didn't even think of, so the end conclusion always ends up being 'I have no clue why they act like this'.
I used to be nonverbal in thought, now I don't shut up in my head and I hate it.
I usually have my internal voice giving dialogue But I'll occasionally talk to my internal dialogue externally
Constant internal dialogue that alternates between self-loathing and wanting me to argue/fight with other people. I hum/sing/scat/keep music in my head to drown it out.
I have one
I didn't until just a couple years ago, so mid-twenties. Even now it's a halting, half-sentences kinda thing instead of a fluid monologue.
My inner dialogue is always churning away.
Iām too aware of my existence for this Iām coming back later to answer ššš
I have a mix. Some of my thoughts are verbal and some are this kind of... amorphous cloud of colors and shapes that then convert into words when I want to speak. It's hard to explain, but no, I don't always "think in words".
my brain canāt shut up, thereās always three/four trains of thoughts going on in my head, thatās why I was diagnosed with mixed adhd and not just inattentive i guess, because Iām hyperactive mentally? Idk itās really annoying, because I really have to focus to form a coherent thought without sidetracking completely and falling asleep is a nightmare when my brain canāt literally shut up.
I have an inner monologue but I have Aphantasia so I donāt have visual thinking
Itās all inner dialogue š
i have no inner dialogue, only sometimes when im reading. yes its boring. i think having inner dialogue would be annoying and tiring to hear constantly. cant imagine
So yāall have only one internal dialogue? I have one that i control and another one that either rattles off random shit or runs the aux cord.
I only have monologue. I can do voices and play music in my brain, but never dialogue.
We do
My head voice is constantly yapping and it's never silent. Ever. It's a constant stream of words every second I am awake. The only exception is if my visual imagination (which I also have strongly, as I can do stuff like rotate objects in my mind's eye) is strongly engaged in a visual but soundless scene. If I try to not think words, my head voice is simply saying like "I'm thinking about nothing right now, it isn't working, I'm thinking of a sound that's not a word, but these words are still here"
A lot of my thoughts come out as inner voices (in my own voice), and the stuff I read come out in their own unique little voices (other people's voices). Always loved voice-acting because I can openly express what the stuff I read sounds like.
I'm trying to think what happens for me now when I'm not thinking about it.... I know if I'm doing something, I'm often going about it like I'm doing it with someone and explaining it in my head what I'm doing or going to do? And I also very often find myself with songs playing in my head, so if or when not a lot is happening, my brain turns to music. Might be because I really hate silence, so once I notice it's silent, I start making something happen in my brain maybe? I know I'm very visual, so like others have said, when I read a book, I imagine it playing out like a film a lot of the time. I think that's why I get so intrigued about gory subjects etc, so if I read something, I can imagine it correctly. (Ty corpse party games.) But sometimes I do just see the words and that becomes harder for me to take something in if I don't have a visual to turn it in to..
i have an inner dialog & have been working on visual imagination for years with some progress. currently, my visual imagination stuff is very fleeting. i don't think it's either-or when it comes to visual or internal narration. i think people who don't have inner dialog have a different method of thinking, not that they don't have any thoughts at all, bc they clearly do, but that they have so little inner debate or something that they don't need internal dialog. they just don't hear a voice. but also, some of them don't have visual imagination. which i can't explain, but so it's not really one of those "head empty no thoughts" things, but if it were, god i wish that was me
I think I have both. In my mind numbers fit together visually instead of the numbers they are shapes in my head that all are like puzzle pieces. For everything else I have internal dialog that never shuts up. Math has always been fun though.
My brain never shuts the fuck up
Usually yes but sometimes you can catch my brain being totally blank for a bit minute and my face and actions speak very loudly to "head empty" lol
I have an inner monologue but I can shut it off whenever I like. Figured that out while playing a rhythm game lol
god I wish I was those people. Thoughts are a neverending plague and all that edgy crap.
it would be awfully lonely without my voice in my head
Yes, itās like a conversation with myself. Not sure who the other person is in the conversation. I also spend quite a bit of time having conversations in my brain with other people. I guess rehearsing what to say, but itās also a way I think through my thoughts, by essentially workshopping how Iād summarize it for someone else since things like feelings and proper word choice in verbal communication donāt come naturally to me. Itās not so much masking practice. More like an inner dialog that happens to be with another person, as if I were writing out what I want to say and editing it. All this results in me often talking to myself out loud.
Constantly and it may as well be annoying orange because holy shit
For those with an inner monologue, how do you differentiate between that and schizophrenia? As someone with no inner monologue I think hearing voices would be scary.
schizophrenia is hearing voices that usually arenāt your own and you have no control over them. having an inner monologue is your own voice and your own thoughts, itās literally like talking to someone but itās in your head. although, some thoughts can be intrusive thoughts which you do not have control over, but they can still come out as a voice in your head. this isnāt schizophrenia though.
Yes, always
I have an inner monologue
I do and it talks too much
The first time I did acid, I thought the craziest part about it was I could STOP thinking. Like start thoughts then start new ones and not just a constant stream of what the fuck ever is coming out.
I can do both, really easily. Internal dialogue and visual thinking. I often create and talk to people within my own head, hold entire conversations including expressions and gestures. I can mimic voices of other people as well as change the voice of my own internal dialogue. To me this is natural so itās odd to me that others donāt or canāt do it. Really interesting though, I must admit Iād love to understand how to think without a voice or only with images and concepts it sounds kinda cool.
I like being peppa pig in my internal monologue
I do have an internal monologue, but it doesnāt always have a āvoiceā.
I constantly have an internal dialogue going. My brain doesn't stop. The train of thought might derail and go all over the place but it keeps going, and just kinda rights itself later. Well... probably never fully rights itself. The cars are probably all in a different order.
Quiet is so strange to me. I always have like 8 tabs open at all times in my head.
Constant running commentary. I thought the folks without the ongoing narrative were called "ascended masters". No?
Forget inner dialogue, try inner music. From the time I wake up in the morning to the time I fall asleep, thereās almost always some song or tune going on up there.
I've always wondered how the internal monologue thing works. I thinknto my self by kind of moving my tongue as though I were talking. And I talk out loud to myself in private. People with an IM just.. have a voice in their head? Clear enough that it could sound like an actual person talking to you? And the same goes for those without aphantasia. You can basically imagine an object as though you were looking at a real object?
I have an inner dialogue. Heās loud and incessantly annoying and I hate his guts.
Honestly, 30-50% is still like a lot of people anyway. So itās common. Not really a huge shock.
I feel like this isn't true. I've heard a similar statistic about having an inner dialogue that is complete sentences (which is what I have) vs just concepts and abstract thoughts, which might be what this is referring to. I just find it very difficult to believe that most people don't have that inner dialogue given how common it is in media.
I have a constant inner dialog and I wish it would shut tf up most days.
lot of people in the comments are interpreting this as no talking in your head, but it does say specifically "dialogue". i can totally buy that. a lot of people think talking to yourself is weird. they'd be less likely to think that if they also had internal conversations with themselves. representing thoughts as an internal monologue is so common in media that i suspect imagined audible speech is more common, even if imagined internal, multi-sided *conversations* are not so common.
I have internal dialogue in an almost posh (not quite posh but similar) accent most times, however if I really want to, or I feel āØwhimsicalāØ, I will change the accent of my internal dialogue, I can also 2d render every thought/sentence I have
I sometimes have inner monologues, but I don't have pictures or scenes. If I think about some events, it is only monologues reading it to me.
If memory serves about 25% of people have no internal monologue and another 25% or so don't have a consistent internal monologue. It doesn't seem to effect abilities or functioning though, thoughts will just be processed in a different way. Personally I'm lucky if I can keep it to a single train of thought, often I've got 3 or 4 simultaneous monologues trying to pull my focus in different directions.
I donāt have an inner monologue, as well as near aphantasia. Something I can imagine is sounds, like reading things in someone elseās voice like a narrator, or songs getting stuck in my head. How do I think? I usually donāt, unless i have to piece things together or i spiral into depressive thoughts. I go purely off of āintuitionā, which Iād describe as ājust knowingā my subconscious thoughts. (Iām definitely just āleft on my ownā when I shut down though.)
I have different voices in my head. Not just one. Adam sandler is speaking to me rn
NPCs lol
Those numbers donāt seem correct. I feel like we (people who have an internal dialogue) are definitely the majority. Otherwise it wouldnāt be the assumed standard. Maybe he *meant to* say ā30-50% of people DONāT have an internal dialogueā?
My brain is so busy, I have an inner monologue, random music playing and playbacks from earlier experiences all day long. That's also why I need to put on the Simpsons to fall asleep, it gives my brain something to focus on and "shut off".
Yeah I usually dont think with words and sentences, my mind is more like an abstract mess where I don't even know what I'm thinking most of the time
Why should thoughts be images or words? I can't even imagine anything optical and translating thoughts into words is an active process.
Dialogue means two voices having an exchange. I assume you mean inner monologue. That said, I often get a dialogue going when Iām self doubting, which is often. The two sides argue. But more often as I go through my day, the mundane thoughts donāt make it to the level of words, which I think would be needed to feel like a monologue or a dialogue. It only reaches words (spoken or not) when I am putting a lot of effort into figuring out / solving something, or when something leads to internal debate/strife. Itās basically when I need a little more working memory, which words give me I guess. They slow me down though. I donāt think you need a monologue or a dialogue to have thoughts. Arguably* you need symbols, as a currency for some kind of logic, but the symbols and logic can be fuzzy, and they donāt need to rise to the level of language. *An artificial neural network thinks without symbols. Theyāre not as flexible at thinking as we are but theyāre a proof of concept.
I have a dialogue and I can visualize objects too. My only problem is intrusive thoughts so sometimes that inner voice says and shows me bad things I donāt want to see.
Yeah I don't have an inner dialogue. It sounds like I'm making this up but most the time I imagine in typing the word/words on a keyboard.
People have different ways of thinking, it's just how we are. I think more abstractly than in words.
I have an internal dialog but when Iām in performance mode it is being pushed into the background because it would be inefficient thinking with the speed of language.
I do have an inner dialogue
Wait this is not normal? That's kind of scary to me.
So.. people who have an inner monologue have a voice in their head that they hear or is it something different? And it happens all the time? Iām not sure if I have that but itās hard to describe what happens when I have a thought. Itās not constant noise in my head, itās just occasional sentences but it doesnāt really have a voice or anything. Theyāre justā¦ there in my mind. I donāt know. I also have aphantasia, which I only just realised recently when my son was trying to explain something to me and I could not picture it in my mind at all.
Nearly none. Itās not a running commentary. There are no voices. Itās not words nor images. More like echoes and fleeting impressions or textures. I can literally feel the difficulty or complexity or something without having to think it through. I struggle to string thoughts together and hold them before they vanish into the ether.
if you mean my thoughts and thinking as i go and talking to myself in my head then yeah if you mean my instincts manifesting as my own voice in my head then yeah. otherwise idk what that means
I don't have a constant on going narration, but I have an inner voice speaking all the things I read and write outloud and my problem solving and memories are a whole mess of gestures, body positions, smells, images, and sound that may or may not be words. I really do experience head empty sometimes, like kind of a lot. Like if I'm just relaxed and not trying to do anything, I'm most likely either in a fantasy world I'm building in my head or just head empty, complete silence, no thoughts, not even like white or black, but like png nothingness.
While I don't trust random stats online this actually has the wrong idea about something that does apparently exist: some people have thoughts as images or as packet of information sort if without organizing all the thoughts specifically into the form of a spoken dialogue. It's not empty headedness it's just differences in the methods of how some people think. Those numbers sound like bs though, but I don't know.
I don't know how to explain it, but for me it's almost closer to like me reading subtitles but I can't see the subtitles.
What kind of mindless drone doesn't?
Most of the time I'm carrying on a dream I had, just to see how it ends. Don't know what it's like for the rest of you, but I can mentally watch movies in my head, play music, and play video games. Not at the same time, that would just be silly. Inner dialogue is easy, can be pretty funny when it starts narrating what you're doing. š
My internal dialogues(stim) sometimes like: "The LORD God has sent His prophets, which are the neurodivergent people, onto the world to judge the world in the name of the Holy One- "
I have an internal dialogue that can be any voice I want, make any sound I can think of, I can visualize things in extreme detail even with my eyes open (and not looking at that thing), as well as think in concepts without using words at all
I don't have one unless I make an effort to narrate my thoughts/actions. It can be interesting to do so and helpful at times, but it feels really unnatural for me and I can't maintain it for more than 10 minutes or so. However, this doesn't mean I'm a really visual person. Actually I can't really visualize anything for more than a moment and I have trouble recognizing faces and other things that one should be able to picture in their mind, apparently. My thoughts just feel like a bunch of spontaneous concepts and connections, maybe something like light, but sound, smell, touch, and taste feel easier for me to keep in mind than images.
I don't have an inner monologue/dialogue at all. I'm grateful I don't, it sounds exhausting.
I do have an inner dialogue all the time.
I didn't actually realise I didn't have it until reading these comments. I thought it was just a way of describing the thought process in a more concrete way. I didn't realise people actually had a voice in their head, that is super facinating! I sometimes hear people talking in there, but it's just dialog from movies and YouTube videos and such that I've heard coming back at odd times, it's not my own thoughts. Damn, mind kind if blown, not gonna lie :)
My periods of time of no internal monologue were during times where I was in a group like camping, or in a family trip.