Current Events > How the fuck do we have inner thoughts?

(+) Yeah! (+)

Like seriously, how am I able to talk to myself in my head? It's really weird if you think about it. Get it.... Mwuahahaha

Wasnt there some poll where a huge percentage of people said they dont have an inner voice/monologue? I remember there being a topic here about it

Im not sure how many people have it but I certainly do. Maybe thats why Im such a good writer, Im always running things through my mind. I always thought everyone had this

BlueBoy675 posted...

Wasnt there some poll where a huge percentage of people said they dont have an inner voice/monologue? I remember there being a topic here about it

Yeah, it's crazy to think that not all humans can possess this ability. Actually, my sister taught me how to do it lol well, more or less, she just told me to do it and was being mean about it lol So I can totally believe others just never figured it out, were never taught, or just don't pay attention to it lol

(At least I'm safe inside my mind).

I constantly forget that not everybody can talk in their head or picture stuff in their head. It's just something that comes so naturally that it's super easy to forget that they're not universal skills.

BlueBoy675 posted...

Wasnt there some poll where a huge percentage of people said they dont have an inner voice/monologue? I remember there being a topic here about it

I don't.

FrozenBananas posted...

Im not sure how many people have it but I certainly do. Maybe thats why Im such a good writer, Im always running things through my mind. I always thought everyone had this

I don't have an inner monologue and I'm a professional writer. When I'm working I see text.

If you've ever thought about anything, you have inner thoughts. Do people just think inner thoughts/inner monologue/etc. means the person is hearing a literal voice?

HashtagSEP posted...

If you've ever thought about anything, you have inner thoughts. Do people just think inner thoughts/inner monologue/etc. means the person is hearing a literal voice?

Inner thoughts, maybe. But I dont see how inner monologue can be defined as anything but actual words.

suchiuomizu posted...

Inner thoughts, maybe. But I dont see how inner monologue can be defined as anything but actual words.

Inner thoughts are words. If you've ever thought anything like "What do I want for lunch today? Feel like pizza," you just had an inner monologue. It doesn't mean you're literally hearing a voice speak those words, though people can certainly attribute their own voice to them if they try to, and some might start to do so naturally. It's not a literal voice in your ears, though. And since it's in your head, you're not really "hearing" it as much as just being conscious of your own thoughts and attributing them in your "voice"/to you.

Tora_Sami posted...

Yeah, it's crazy to think that not all humans can possess this ability. Actually, my sister taught me how to do it lol well, more or less, she just told me to do it and was being mean about it lol So I can totally believe others just never figured it out, were never taught, or just don't pay attention to it lol

Some people don't process information with verbal language. Some process the same information through visual or other sensory information.

HashtagSEP posted...

Inner thoughts are words. If you've ever thought anything like "What do I want for lunch today? Feel like pizza," you just had an inner monologue. It doesn't mean you're literally hearing a voice speak those words, though people can certainly attribute their own voice to them if they try to. It's not a literal voice in your ears, though.

The point is, some people don't process with words. I don't. When I'm writing text presents itself, but if I never think "feel like pizza." It's more like thinking of the flavor of pizza or a picture.

HashtagSEP posted...

Inner thoughts are words. If you've ever thought anything like "What do I want for lunch today? Feel like pizza," you just had an inner monologue. It doesn't mean you're literally hearing a voice speak those words, though people can certainly attribute their own voice to them if they try to, and some might start to do so naturally. It's not a literal voice in your ears, though. And since it's in your head, you're not really "hearing" it as much as just being conscious of your own thoughts and attributing them in your "voice"/to you.

There legitimately are people who can't just like there's people who can't picture an apple in their mind or some who can picture an apple in their mind but can't picture the colour that goes with it.

Enclave posted...

There legitimately are people who can't just like there's people who can't picture an apple in their mind or some who can picture an apple in their mind but can't picture the colour that goes with it.

You just made me vividly picture a shiny blue apple, it was kinda trippy

Alteres posted...

You just made me vividly picture a shiny blue apple, it was kinda trippy

You're welcome, I legit feel sorry for people who can't do that.

Fun fact. My mom can visualize objects, but not the words that go with them. For example, she can picture an apple, but not the combined a-p-p-l-e words.

I had an inner voice and pictures. Then something clicked and now I only have inner thoughts and aphantasia.

Alteres posted...

You just made me vividly picture a shiny blue apple, it was kinda trippy

It was a golden apple from Zelda for me. No idea why because I wasn't even thinking about Zelda.

I don't have inner thoughts. I vocalize them but then people will think I'm crazy talking to myself, though. It's a double edged sword

Do NOT think about a purple elephant on a unicycle juggling bowling pins!

I dunno.. I feel like much of what a person experiences is not so clear and when we do get a definitive answer, its not made any clearer what conditions prove/disprove the phenomenon of a persons given experience

Like, in music, for example, theres a category of people who apparently can see images or the billowing of different lights when they play music. When I told my co-worker that when I played music, I could see images and or things that kind of resembled the shape of what I was playing she was like wow, thats really rare! Did you know that was called (insert name of the thing)?.

In my mind, I just assumed that was how it always was though. Like art makes you think of other things.. so if youre looking at a painting, you can almost feel the breeze.. feel the heat of the drawn image.. maybe itd remind you of a smell you can almost begin to smell.. and if you were listening to something, you can almost see or feel an image being conjured from the sounds themselves

but I dont doubt for a second that its the user itself thats producing this willfully, its just your imagination crossing over the boundary of reality with a kind of delusion. Not all delusions are bad. Some people cope with the realities of the world by escaping to a fantasy reality via video games, yknow?

and so this question of inner thoughts.. I mean, how much of it really has to be sound you actually hear? I feel like any form of communication you have with yourself are your inner thoughts. You can force yourself to say soda! like revolver ocelot does in this video:

https://youtu.be/VYn4GE2M_ss?si=XGddVdKlXoV89p4X

in your mind, and you can for sure repeat the cadence, the tone, etc.

are you hearing it?

Hell, Ill stretch this idea out even further.. Ive never believed people who say that they've never enjoyed music. Its usually regulated to the idea that what they are hearing is such an after thought that they hardly have anything remarkable to say about it. But I cant imagine them not liking any form of music because music is sound, and sound is everywhere. Perhaps its simply because they've never considered a life without it.. maybe its as simple as their pessimism taking a leak everywhere before their own mind has a chance to think of the answer to that question

er, well, who knows I guess.

KanWan posted...

and so this question of inner thoughts.. I mean, how much of it really has to be sound you actually hear? I feel like any form of communication you have with yourself are your inner thoughts. You can force yourself to say soda! like revolver ocelot does in this video:

as said, I can answer that question. There are two vastly different things, I would define inner thoughts as literally just thinking, not hearing. Inner voice, it's like you are actually talking in your head.

In regards to music, Ive read that for people on the spectrum listening to music is the same as a neurotypical person listening to music while on LSD. Im not sure how true that is, but Ive always had a very intimate connection to music and often hear minor details in songs others dont catch. So maybe theres truth to it

While I dont have an official diagnosis (working on it), Im fairly certain Im on the spectrum so that might explain why music is such a cerebral experience for me

I have an internal monologue but I think ADHD makes it choppy or somehow difficult in some other way. I don't know how it works, but it's never like a very smooth flow of words, or at least not ever for very long.

GeminiDeus posted...

Do NOT think about a purple elephant on a unicycle juggling bowling pins!

I also get sweet sound effects! My brain added the circus theme to it!

vigorm0rtis posted...

The point is, some people don't process with words. I don't. When I'm writing text presents itself, but if I never think "feel like pizza." It's more like thinking of the flavor of pizza or a picture.

Lol wtf is wrong with you?

Tora_Sami posted...

I also get sweet sound effects! My brain added the circus theme to it!

So did mine!
Why is this a universal soundtrack for that lol.

RetsuZaiZen posted...

Lol wtf is wrong with you?

I dunno. I think it's why I write, because I've always had to translate my internal process.

BlueBoy675 posted...

Wasnt there some poll where a huge percentage of people said they dont have an inner voice/monologue? I remember there being a topic here about it

I remember that topic, I'm one of those guys. It's not that I can't have a voice, I can hear it just fine when I read dialogue, but I don't have a voice for my default thoughts.

how would you not?

wouldn't it be really boring?

What did people do before language was invented

vigorm0rtis posted...

I don't have an inner monologue and I'm a professional writer. When I'm working I see text.

Im also a writer with no inner monologue.

Enclave posted...

I constantly forget that not everybody can talk in their head or picture stuff in their head. It's just something that comes so naturally that it's super easy to forget that they're not universal skills.

I can do those things but generally dont.

Tora_Sami posted...

Yeah, it's crazy to think that not all humans can possess this ability. Actually, my sister taught me how to do it lol well, more or less, she just told me to do it and was being mean about it lol So I can totally believe others just never figured it out, were never taught, or just don't pay attention to it lol

I find it weird that youre referring to it as a skill. I dont see it that way at all.

My brother is the opposite. He thinks out loud. Not a talking to himself thing but having a outward monologue. There was awhile I thought he was talking to someone

I'm inward.

Apparently there are people who can't visualize apples in their mind

lilORANG posted...

Apparently there are people who can't visualize apples in their mind

how clear is the picture supposed to be?

thronedfire2 posted...

how clear is the picture supposed to be?

There's no "supposed" about it. It's a wide spectrum as I understand it.

I thought that study that showed not everyone had inner monologues was flawed? Like their questioning was not robust, they conclusion drawn was that because those people didnt have an inner monologue happening then and there meant they never ever did or something to that extent?

lilORANG posted...

Apparently there are people who can't visualize apples in their mind

Yeah me. My ability to visualise is approximately 0. Like on a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being the ability to visualise about as realistic as real life, Im at like a 0.3. I -can- do it, but just barely, like the ghosts of outlines of objects etc

on the other hand, in terms of voices and sounds, Im at a full 10/10 for that. I can be playing back songs in my head or scenes in movies as if I was actually listening to it IRL. Due to this my inner monologue is also at a 10/10 I think