I’m in a loophole since I found out people can’t hear their thoughts .. and they don’t have an internal monologue with themselves I always thought we all did, this is crazyyyy
Lizziejnb I can’t hear or see my thoughts... I don’t see pictured or shapes or anything... my mind is like floating in space and my words are invisible and inaudible
I'm still not entirely convinced these people who claim to not have an internal monologue are actually telling the truth. Like, at the beginning of this video, the guy says he doesn't like looking at himself. I imagine he's at least thought of that before to himself? I feel like it's a semantic issue and everybody has a different way of describing their experiences but that our experiences are ultimately closer than we think. We might all just have different language describing the same thing. Stuff like internal monologues and visualization isn't very concrete and clear like a plate of food right in front of you for example. How can you even read without an internal monologue saying the words?
Jesus Christ you can’t know what’s in someone else’s brain, so not fathoming their way of thinking is perfectly natural. But I Never knew people had actual DAYDREAMS and could close their eyes and see their memories. Til a week ago, I thought it was a figure of SPEACH! So saying you don’t Believe them is ok, but it’s not gonna be correct. Do you have visions when you close your eyes? I could just very well say I don’t believe you too... I have an internal monologue but I don’t See memories or picture things. All I see is darkness, maybe a few swirls of color from light coming in through my eyelids. But no objects or shapes... It’s all I’ve ever known. I have internal monologue but it’s like... inaudible and invisible... I can’t hear my own voice when I think it, I can’t see myself think it... I just know I thought it. Some people only see a series of WORDS or descriptions. Some have faint pictures, some have full on movie full details. But you can’t just NOT BELIEVE them just because you don’t KNOW their experience see how that works? Just because you only know something one way, doesn’t mean someone else doesn’t see it a different way.
My daydream isnt just words. Like it's a movie in my head but with dialogues. So i am at the beach for example and i see the ocean and then someone asks me if i want ice cream and only the last part is in words.
That’s still such an odd concept to me. In my daydreams and actual dreams there are no words. It’s more just images and feelings. Growing up I actually had reoccurring nightmares where I would be in different situations and I was unable to call for help because I couldn’t say anything or scream (don’t know if that’s actually related to my thought processes tho)
@@ellan1664 it's not, it's a common nightmare. I both see and hear my thoughts, and I used it get that nightmare often. My theory is it represents feeling powerless.
i dont even know if i dream with words. there isnt much dialogue and if there is its not a dialogue like in the movies. I remember one dream where I was arguing but it was a telepathical kind of sharing pictures with someone. if i dream about the peope that i have dialogues with in real life, it continues when i try to sleep. but in deep REM sleep i doubt if i have whole sentences. its all feelings and sometimes faces and situations. I hear music and see colours but words i dont think during rem. i hope not. i dont remember my dreams. if i have a whole conversation its never a real deep dream im half awake then.
We don't HEAR our thoughts the same way you 'd hear somebody talking. Just like you "see" something, you're IMAGINING seeing something that's not actually there. We IMAGINE the sound of words being spoken without actually hearing them. And yes, we do repeat all the words in our head as we read 😂 Hope that helps. (I'm curious how those few sentences were "pictured" in your head 😂)
ballerina2rockerchik I do also. In my head if I know the person really well I that I am talking to I can hear their voice in my inner conversation. Same with reading a text or email from them. I can hear how they would say the sentences.
i totally misread this the first time. yes you put it accurately. we dont hear an actual voice, its still an imagination of the voice. that would be very distracting to have an actual voice going on in your head😅 sorta like what some people with Schizophrenia suffer from....
I’m not lying when I tell you this video literally helped me understand my husband so much better. Up until today I had no idea he didn’t have an inner monologue and he didn’t know I thought in words! We’ve been together for 10 years!! You really helped me understand why he is the way he is. Everything makes so much sense now! Thank you so much
i am just curious as to how you think having no internal monologue has affected him as a person? i think i just figured out i also have no internal monologue and i’m trying to figure out what makes me and my understanding of things so different
a GREAT example of “hearing” thoughts for example is the way Joe narrates in “YOU” on netflix. his thoughts in the middle of situations are put into a narration and that is almost exactly what its like when we just automatically think in audible words in our heads.
@@royhairstoncomedy8112 yeah, that's exactly how i found out that not having an internal monologue was abnormal- i was watching an episode of Seinfeld, and Elaine was talking to herself in her head, and that has always annoyed me when TV shows do that, so I wrote about it on my livejournal- how it's so unrealistic when they depict people's thoughts in TV shows as if they're actually speaking in their heads, and everyone who replied to me was like, "Uh, that is actually how people think."
@@royhairstoncomedy8112 When you read do the words play back in your head? When you're debating with someone online and you think about what their possible rebuttals could be or what the right words are to communicate your position, do you come up with words to say in your head? I can't see how you'd just have no thoughts and be able to come up with a proper rebuttal to somebody who disagrees with you.
@@Krista2882 Well obviously the way they do it in shows is not very realistic. But, when you think: "Oh, how annoying that is when they do that on TV shows, it's so unrealistic." how do you know you find it annoying without specifying it with words? How do you even come up with something to say in these comments if you don't have a coherent train of thoughts? I know I don't think in a one track mind sort of way, but often I'll be thinking about something and it goes off on a tangent into something else and then to another thing, and next thing I know I don't remember what I was thinking about before. I don't believe you that you think it's annoying without at least having a basic concept of what you think is annoying in words. I don't think anybody would claim that straight up words are what people hear when there are thoughts in their head.
I think my thoughts are a mixture of both. Everything he's talking about doesn't seem weird to me and a lot of them I do it the same way, but I can think in words and sometimes I do talk to my self in my head but it feels restricting and slow in comparison. Sometimes there are sentence fractures so I start thinking a sentence but cut it off and pictures and feelings take over as thought.
I’m exactly the same. I think it’s a scale. I’ve seen an interview where the girl said she could not even imagine a conversation/argument with someone else, but like this guy here I am able to imagine a conversation with someone and sometimes specific words, mixed in with emotions/the general feeling
Ella N completely agree, I’m the same way. I just came from another video that interviewed a girl with no inner monologue and I just couldn’t understand why people are so blown away by this. But like you said I’m guessing there has to be a spectrum like you said.
Niki Research shows that most people use many ways to think. People with no inner monologue OR on the other end with no visualization are in the minority for sure
I also mostly think in feelings (if you can call it that) and my thoughts just shift. But if I want to or sometimes randomly, I think in words, sentences and sentence fragments
anyone else watching these internal monologue discussion videos and realising we've all been overlooking a really fundamental aspect of how different people experience the world? not to overreact or anything, but i feel like study of the arts, language, history, mathematics, pretty much every field of human intelligence and creativity could all be affected by a widespread understanding of internal monologues and how they work. maybe discovering whether you've developed one from a young age or not could even lead to a more effective education system that groups people by how they visualise concepts and then using different learning techniques for the benefit for each group.
Yep! I just discovered the work of Russell T Hurlburt, this one psychology professor who's been working on understanding variety in people's inner experiences for decades now, and it's so interesting and so exciting and uhh yeah, exactly, not to overreact either but I really think it could change the world if everybody knew about this ... hurlburt.faculty.unlv.edu/sampling.html
I don’t think you’re overreacting at all! I work with kids, and I was just thinking this as well!! To me, this whole inner monologue thing really seems to boil down to being an auditory learner vs being a visual learner, which should absolutely be better integrated into the education system.
Yes!! I’m looking at my three year old and wondering what he thinks now lol. This could explain so much about learning styles, how to teach math and language, therapy, music. I feel like we’ve been missing out on an incredible tool because both groups just assumed we did it the same 😂
1) when we daydream it’s visual and we can use words. like i’ll imagine a conversation with someone and i’ll see them and hear what i’m saying to them in my head as well as what they’re saying. 2) yes we can hear our thoughts in our head lol this whole thing is tripping me out so much i can’t comprehend how nonverbal thinkers think
What I'm getting from this, is you think like everyone else, just without the words, and you feel the meaning of the imagery and emotional snapshots much more sensitively. I think everyone can think in images, sounds, and words, but some people don't NEED the added context of all words, just the key ones, so they just...don't. Dude. I have so much to say about this. We need to do a podcast.
Some people can't think in images, sounds and words AT ALL. Look into Aphantasia. For some people it's just feelings, emotions and abstract concepts, that's all. For few others there are no emotions at all. Just factual memory, their minds are always blank.
Basil Walls I cannot see a picture in my head for the life of me. I have ptsd and I’m thinking that childhood trauma could affect this. I have no memory of my home life or the ppl in it before age ten. Not one. Anyway I’m just really curious if this has a connection..
Basil Walls not really... like when you go to Meditate, people do guided meditations... I don’t see anything they tell me to so I thought I was doing it wrong... I have no movies images in my head... like I’m floating in space but I don’t see myself... it’s basically when I close my eyes I see outer space in the back of my eyelids but I can’t put pictures or videos or words in my head
Why do you hate seeing yourself? You're a handsome fella with a charismatic vibe. You're good. :) That being said...I'm down the middle. I have an internal monologue with a vivid daydream capability, but I also find myself saying things out loud (in a whisper)... I am jealous of your ability to cold read people and get through books on key words.
You are the first person to explain this to me in a way I can understand sith the dishes analogy! For me as a word thinker, I see the dirty dishes in the sink and “hear” my voice in my head saying “ugh I’ve got to do dishes. We had tacos last night so that pan is going to be so annoying to clean out. Why can’t my husband have done it last night for me? Now it’s caked on. Maybe I should soak it. What are we having for dinner tonight? Does it need that pan? Maybe I can soak it and he can do it in the morning.” And it’s a constant stream of consciousness type talking. As a word thinker, I don’t actually hear it just like you don’t actually see it. The voice in my head is mine, although if I imagine someone talking or arguing with me then I can hear someone else’s voice. It is definitely imaginary because it can’t get quieter or louder, it’s one volume. And it’s constant. Like someone following you around and constantly talking, commenting on what they see. If you’ve ever had a six year old follow you around, it’s exactly like that. Constant background chatter that you can’t turn off
This exactly! I can chose to bring words & sentences forward. I then scan through them & take what is needed to understand the general idea & emotions. It takes a lot of effort & energy for me to do this. I don’t hear any sound in my natural uncontrolled thoughts. It’s an instantaneous thing that happens. But I can hear what I feel like is sound if I choose to. For instance, when I have a song stuck in my head. When I watch movies that use an internal dialogue to show the persons perspective, I have always felt as if they were overdoing it. It has never felt accurate to my experiences. My theory is that there are different levels on the inner monologue spectrum. Some people have a verbalized inner monologue with sound, some people have a verbalized inner monologue without sound, some people have no verbal inner monologue just instantaneous thoughts & some people have the ability to pull any of those forward. Which is the category I feel like I fit into. I hope this makes sense! Thanks for the video! 😊
I have to say...you've explained this perfectly. Me...with an internal dialogue, actually gets where you're coming from. It sounds more big picture and less selfish. It's a more logical frame of mind. I admire this.
@jenniferlefski Thank you! Some things are very hard to explain & I tried my best hoping it would make sense lol. It’s like trying to explain color to a blind person.
I’m shocked! I went my whole life until today thinking everyone thought like me, through words! Now I’m watching all these videos about it. Pretty cool hearing your experiences and thought process! Thanks for explaining all of this. To me, it’s like I’m narrating things like the “Narrator” you hear in movies. “Ok... I’m gonna do the dishes. Oh wow there’s a lot of dishes. They’re so dirty, is that a crack in the dish?? Oh God I’m gonna have to buy another dish to replace it” except these conversations happen in my head all over the place. While doing dishes I can conversate things about what I’ll do tomorrow, I’ll talk full sentences about every possible thing. I also like to visualize feelings and stuff, like thinking about the feeling of a hug etc. When people talk to me, I unconsciously, and very quickly pretty much repeat their sentences in my head to comprehend it. I know it sounds slow but I guess I don’t really notice that and it happens very quickly. Anywho that’s a look into my thinking. Again, thanks for sharing!
I’m definitely someone with a hardcore internal monologue! Wanted to add my two cents about daydreaming, I still see images but it’s primarily like listening to an audiobook in my head, then the pictures come after I sort out the words for it.
You touched on mental health. Someone like myself that has an internal monologue and I’m in a dark mindset I speak in my head and put myself down with the feelings of feeling sad and depressed. As for daydreaming it is imagery but also with words that are spoken between myself and whoever is in my daydream. If there’s someone speaking in my daydream it’s their voice I hear in my head and my voice if I’m talking. In regards to the dishes example I would speak in my head I have to do the dishes with the imagery of the dishes. With reading I speak the words I read in my head at the same time imagining whatever I’m reading and each character has their own voice that I hear in my head and that’s created by whatever description of them thats written and what my mind perceives what they would sound like.
I can also hear other voices in my head.. like a really famous persons voice.. if it's a sentence they used to say on a show: like Joey from Friends saying: 'How you doing?' if i read that sentence i hear Joey say it..
My voice in my head is a much nicer voice than my speaking voice, higher pitched and softer , totally weird! When I hear my speaking voice i don't recognise it. In my head my accent is different too! 🙈🙈
@@alexbuchanan4351 interesting! Is that why people don't like to hear their own voices? Cuz i dont hear mine actively, don't have inner monologue, so I don't mind hearing myself on audio.
How do you feel this would impact a romantic relationship with someone who thinks the opposite way? If you're having an argument or disagreement are you listening to everything they're telling you about how they feel? Once the conversation is over what do you think? Are you thinking of how that conversation went and how that person is feeling based on what they've communicated? When going to resolve the arguement how do you decide how you will respond? Are you only responding logically? This is crazy to me but connecting alot of dots now lol!
My ex husband is more like him, and I think linguisticly like most ppl do. You're right! I was a better communicator, and he was more logic-based. I over-think everything, and he would make lists, and plan everything ahead. His mind was more of a computer database and mine was a messy cabinet overflowing with words and pictures. All the same emotions, but it's like the operating system is a just little different.
@@bodyofhope but I don't think these are related. I have no inner monologue, I'm good with communication, although hard sometimes to put my feelings into words, but I think that goes for many people. But I don't plan everything ahead etc. Im certainly not logical and I also overthink and feel like a mess sometimes. Inner voice is just you word out those thoughts in your mind.. Which I don't do. I just feel it abstractly.
Yes, we hear our own voice... in our heads. So its not like someone (or ourselves) is speaking into our ears. We kinda just "imagine" ourselves talking. Example: *laying in bed* inner voice "ugh, i need to start packing for my trip first thing in the morning". Also, we read every word & then comprehend the whole sentence (or "paint the picture"). For example when reading the sentence "The little blue house sat high up on a hill." I read every word and piece the picture together as i add each word to the sentence 😂 This is so interesting to me lol.
I have the capability to think sentences in words in my head but often don’t. I wouldn’t ever actually use the pronoun “I” in my thoughts, rather picture an empty suitcase and thinking the words “must” and “pack”
I’ve been very interested in this subject lately. I have a Psych degree. I’ve been trying to figure out whether this is something that is genetic and, therefore, is an evolutionary adaptation or dead end trait (or vice versa) OR if it’s simply a learned trait and what advantage (if any) it possesses. My experience is just anecdotal and my inner monologue might have always been there, but I just learned to use and explore it. I recall, as an adolescent I became aware at one point that my thoughts and words didn’t always match. That is, sometimes what I thought I said isn’t what my mind thought. So I began to slow down my speech and start thinking about what I was going to say first. Later my own thoughts became subject to internal examination through a dialogue. Psychologist call this metacognition. This was a bit nerve wracking up through my late teens because it doesn’t seem normal. But through this process, I think I trained myself to have an acute inner voice. And while I did become a mindful person with plenty of foresight on many matters, I found that I began to overthink many simple situations causing indecision. It was also pretty “noisy” lying in bed if I was stressed. Drinking most nights to dull the inner voice was standard practice for years. In time I began to learn to rely more again on my intuition and instincts. That happens through activities that require being present on the moment and texting to stimuli. For me it was most martial arts and auto racing. Meditation helps too. My hypothesis is that I think we might be born with the capacity of an inner voice and mind’s eye that some just learn to use, even rely upon, over time. I’m not sure if it’s a binary trait or a spectrum people are on like an acute sense of taste and smell. And what, if anything, can we learn about the psychology of people who do or don’t have this?
Firstly, let me congratulate you for making a great video! Very entertaining, very thoughtful, down-to-earth, and chill. It is really interesting to find out that someone thinks differently than you do. There’s a book you might like called Moonwalking with Einstein, by Joshua Foer. He talks about researching and competing in the national memory championship. He mentioned that trick of associating things with meaningful images to create a mental map in your head that you can then “read” back. I also read somewhere that politition’s speaches are crafted to have as little imagery in them as possible so that they can sound like they’re saying something meaningful without saying anything at all, and you won’t catch it, because there’s no concrete imagery to focus on.
I think my best friend has this. I was explaining to her how i have a hard time falling asleep bc my brain creates a world or scenario or puts me in my favorite book more movie and plays through and she can not fathom it. She can't imagine anything apparently. But looking back on it she really says everything out loud that I would think. If she's reading or making a list or deciding what chores to do she says it all verbally. Interesting
I read once that in the future there may be technology that can "read your mind" (or at least those that have internal monologue) because a lot of people's vocal chords move as they're thinking (attempting to form the words to speak them aloud) and they might be able to track that and translate it
I find this sort of thing fascinating, hearing how other people think. I do think with words, and I also think with pictures as well. When I read I can imagine the scene. I do read each word and if a character is speaking, I can hear their voice in my head. I think basically like how I'm typing this, this is my thoughts that I'm just writing out. As for mental health issues, like you mentioned in your video, I have depression and the voice in my mind can be mean to me. It's hard to explain. It's like, "Oh wow, look at me, being an absolute failure." And then I can't stop thinking about all the things I've said wrong or times I've messed up. It's annoying and I wish I could make that stop. But anyway, thank you for this enlightening video. I learned a lot!
To the reading question, i read the words in my head as if its being played in my head. Like when you start reading fast enough, its not like its narriated at morgan freeman speeds, its more like fragmented thouhts. If i read the sentence "the fighter plane did a strafing run at the tank" im hearing my inner voice say word for word that, but the imagery and the sounds unfold at real time. I hear the engine roar, the bullets leave the wings gun mounts, the plank sounds of them hitting the tanks, and the climbing hum of the fighter plane gaining altitude and preparing another attack run. Its not just imagery, and certainly not just words....a culmination of everything about the situation. The more descripters the better the experience.
Do people talk in your daydreams? Not reading every word in a novel would take away from the experience of the eloquent writing that sets the mood. So you would have to give yourself a pep talk aloud? At least you hear other voices in your dreams, but that is odd that you never speak back. Do you replay past arguments in your head, where you hear them talking and you can talk back, and differently from what you had actually said? I, too, imagine the dirty dishes and feel the dread, but I also hear my voice say, “ Crap! I still gotta go the dishes! Omgggg ughhh”. There is simply a caption to the images in my head, if that makes sense. Do you hear the varying voices of the characters in a book in your head while you are reading it? Did you hear Elon Musk’s voice narrating his book? Maybe are comfortable on stage because you didn’t have to rehearse your lines over and over in your head which causes anxiety, as does thinking about all of the people who could potentially hate it. Do you not worry about those things?
People who think in words can mostly also think in pictures. So daydreaming for the majority of people is similar to how you do it, visualising what you're imagining, but also with a monologue over the top. It is rare to not both picture and speak through the things you are thinking.
What he’s saying doesn’t add up tbh. “Think about the words you’re going to say before you say them” is thinking about the impact of what you’ll say. It’s not like we stand and think about exactly word for word what we’ll say before we say it. You know how much lag there would be when people communicate/talk to each other if that was how it works. We just have a general feeling of what we’ll say. You were trying to say that you see images when you read but so do people with internal voices. When I read a book as a “ word thinker” I read it and those descriptive words start to paint a picture that causes me to imagine it at the same time. Word thinkers can think in images, sounds/words, and feelings. I believe you have this idea that you have an advantage and are thinking abstractly or in a smarter more efficient way. In actuality you’re missing out. A lot of the stuff you described is true for people with internal voices too. It’s not like we’re constantly talking to ourselves in ourself in our head we just have the ability to think like you and to write an essay without rereading it
I feel like something is different, but as I said in the video I dont either is any better or worse than the other. I would imagine there would be some lag if you are thinking out each individual word, which, as I said in the video, I couldn't imagine having to do so it makes sense to me that you don't actually do that but I don't know. The main point of the video was to describe the way I think so I can figure what exactly is different. Thanks for your perspective though, it makes sense. I guess what I could say is definitely different is that I don't normally process things with an internal voice or in words. I do think it is faster in some ways, but much less specific or accurate in others, so I dont think it is better or smarter, really if anything it's less "smart" more than likely since it seems I am lacking something that other people seem to have.
"It’s not like we’re constantly talking to ourselves in our head" - see, for me, that *is* the case. So I often feel like I'm lacking something too, which would be the ability to switch *off* my inner speech (I do have some control over what I verbally think about, but I've never been able to mute it entirely). Seems there's a whole spectrum of experiences rather than just those 'with' and 'without' an internal monologue :)
Question: Are you able to empathize with others easily? Do you struggle to understand where other ppl are coming from, or can you put yourself in other people's shoes easily? When someone is going through a difficult time- specifically something you've never experienced yourself, are you able to connect to their feelings and understand their situation fairly easily?
14:34 my answer .... yes I have to repeat what Im reading in my head to retain it. I could just look at the words/scan them in the appropriate left to right order but I wouldn’t call that reading because I won’t retain the information. I’ll have to re-read it at that point. It’s important to note that I am not a slow reader though. I can get through a book very quickly. I love reading. When I hear the words aloud in my head they come immediately after viewing the words on paper. There is barely even a delay.
Thank you for putting this up! I think we think very similarly. What are you on the MBTI scale? I'm an INFJ. We're often credited with being "empaths." My gut instinct on first impression is often right. I also think in visuals and abstract concepts and lots of emotion. When I have imaginary "arguments" with people, I usually end up doing it out loud!
Yes I repeat every word I read in my head as I read it and yes it does drive me completely fucking insane. I hate reading because the “sound” of myself speaking each word in my head is actually so distracting that it’ll prevent me from actually processing what I read. So I’ll have to read the same thing multiple times. On the other hand, however, I am very very good at articulating myself with words. And yes, I’m “saying” and “hearing” myself say each of these words as I type them. It’s impossible for me not to. Also, sometimes while I’m reading something I’ll also be thinking about something else. This also interferes with me processing read information because there’s multiple “conversations” happening in my head at once. You say that you pick out key words. I’ve ALWAYS thought about how I wish I could that. I’ve tried to do it. It’s so insanely hard for me when reading something to distinguish between really important and unimportant information. Every single thing is important to me-for the most part. I’m quite jealous of how your brain works homie
I've seen people point out that even if you have an internal monologue it's not like you talk to yourself in your brain all day everyday. I bet there are differences on how we think even among all of us who do have a voice in our heads, but for me I have a voice all the time. maybe it's not me talking to myself, but if not its random thoughts about what I might need to do, things that pop into my head (like "wow that burger looks good" when looking at a burger) or even my voice singing a song. you spoke about mental health and trauma, and I believe we all have it as bad because we think in pictures/abstract thoughts and feelings like you or in words (mostly) like me. as someone who suffers from anxiety and depression, I wish I could turn off the voice.in my head speaking constantly and telling me awful things. but I also think it would be terrifying to have the same happening with pictures or like a movie inside my head. thanks for the fascinating video
It seems really efficient to think this way, but as someone who doesn’t, I much prefer thinking LESS efficiently. For example if I come across a concept or word that I don’t understand, I love to just sit there and mull over it trying to get to know it better. I can sit for hours trying to analyze the how or why of something.
Agreed!! I feel like it makes me eloquent, able to communicate how I’m feeling more effectively, dissect complex ideas and finally cracking it because of one important word. I can see how big picture stuff would be easier with abstract thought but going over things with words helps with small detail things
For me, I think in words and pictures, so if I’m thinking about something that has an associated image (going hiking, feeding my cat, paying a bill) I’ll have a feeling about it, I’ll visualize it, and I’ll also hear my an abstract version of my voice kind of narrating the whole thing over top of it. If there’s not an image associated with it (like thinking about word choice) then it’s just the narration which sometimes argues with itself.
Hey, this video was made based on the article and video I made and I just wanted to let you know that I have been participating in the research that this has been about. You did a great job at describing your thoughts and I genuinely believe you have a good interpretation of your thoughts. I learned through this experience that everyone thinks differently, and as you put it, have a different "automatic system." Mine happens to be words, some are feelings, and others are something called unsymbolized thoughts. If you have interest in this stuff, i recommend checking out my channel to watch me participate in the research of a world renowned clinical psychologist!
This is absolutely insane to me. Everything I hear or say gets relayed back to me by my own voice in my head. Like when I'm talking to someone, I can hear everything single word in my head before they come out and when the person replies I hear their words in my head as if it's my own voice, while also going through irrelevant thought tangents about their choice of words or specific details of the message. I have to focus a lot when talking to other people because it can be very easy for me to get lost in thought, even when I'm the person talking. When I'm reading a book, it takes a while because i'm reading the words out loud in my head but I'm also having thoughts about it so I usually have to read the same sentence twice or more, focusing on actually reading and not going on some random tangent about irrelevant details. I daydream a lot, but it's like a BBC documentary with directors commentary. Everything is vivid and there is constant narration. Like, while I'm typing this I hear the words in my mind and then one word would spark a daydream and I would sit for a minute just thinking about whatever comes up and then remember I was busy typing and I would have to read the entire paragraph again to know where I was before I dosed off lmao.
Hah, you are exactly like me. I usually only read the first 2-3 pages of a book, because my imagination takes over and creates a much more interesting continuation of the plot, events and places. When talking to a person I always evaluate their choice of words and intentions behind them etc. When I'm approaching someone I always have already prepared what and how to say to them.
I'm the type 1 and my mind thinks in images, sentences, scenes, etc. I can visualize everything, when people tell me things that happened to them I'm visualizing it as they're talking, like a movie. I don't narrate in my mind, I just think thoughts automatically and some of it is in sentences as if I'm talking to myself conversationally, other thoughts are images or scenes. If I'm thinking about something that happened yesterday I'm remembering it as a scene, as it happened. If I'm planning in my mind what I'm going to do tomorrow I'm picturing it, listing it, or talking it out in my mind. I don't physically see anything with my eyes closed, I visualize it with my imagination in my head, very easily and naturally. If someone tells me about something and I don't know what it looks like, I imagine it. I design what it might look like without even trying, my mind just automatically does that. Even if my design isn't want it actually looks like, my mind needs to make up some image as a reference point. I don't physically/audibly hear voices, I just imagine or remember them in my mind or I imagine my own voice talking to me but it's not really like a conversation, it's more like acknowledgement or confirmation of what I'm seeing. For example right now, instantly, I can imagine my mother's voice and face and her mannerisms - even though I haven't seen her in almost a year. There's a bank teller in another town that I've only talked two twice in my entire life but because we had an interesting albeit short conversation, I can remember her face and her voice and imagine her in my mind even though it was over a week or two ago. Imagining things makes life full of surprises because you imagine how things might be and when you finally lay eyes on what it actually is you're like oh damn that's not what I expected! Also, people telling gross jokes or stories - I involuntarily imagine it so it's really annoying. Also disappointed a lot because you expect something and it's less than what you expected. Hope this helps clarify for some of the other types.
As someone with anxiety who is a “word thinker “ say for instance I have a conversation that makes me feel weird . I still feel those feelings like you, but I can literally hear myself in my head like “why would I say that.” Or going into a public area I think like “ that persons looking at me weird do I look funny” etc . I feel like it could be worse for word thinkers because I literally second guess every single thing I do in words .
I wonder if people in deaf communities have thinking close to yours. I have a mixture of words and images myself. Sometimes I will just think in feelings then I will interpret those feelings into words or pictures.
I doubt there is anyone who doesn't think in pictures and feelings. If you think in words that's not the only way you think. It's just one of the ways you think. I'm pretty sure the majority of people think in words, pictures, and feelings. Apparently there are some people that just dont think the words... interesting.
Yeah true. I think we use different methods of thinking for different reasons. I like to figure things out by working out how I would explain it to someone else. It’s like writing a script. As an introvert I guess it’s a safe way of figuring out my emotions without having to talk about them to someone else!
As someone who has constant nightmares... Probably 5/7 nights a week (that I notice since they wake me up), I've noticed that eating apples at night/apple juice can help and that anything red (and I love salsa and pasta sauce) can make them so much worse. There's my normal nightmares and then my nightmares on steroids... Idk if it helps but it may be worth a shot. Also sleeping in the wrong temp can change my dreams too... I find it best to be completely physically exhausted... I hope you find relief one day
I think for most people who have a inner voice they read fictional books exactly because those create emotions and pictures in their head but at the same time you can here yourself raeding the book or you change youre tone so its sound like some narrator also youre able to give the characters a certain voice its like youre creating a movie. For me it was fascinating to see the golden compass as a movie I read it as a child and had vivid memories from the book, even if the movie didnt depict what I imagined it was nice to see what kinda story the craetors of the movie made.
I guarantee someone else has told you think but thinking in words is just another accessory to my thoughts, it works in harmony with my other ways of thinking although I mainly only think in thoughts. You may be ableto picture it like this, imagine you had aphantasia, you would still be able to think just not in pictures. But since you don’t have aphantasia, you think in pictures AND ideas and feelings etc.
All your answers are super helpful. Thank you for being clear and covering exactly how you think. Your explanation on how you read books was really helpful. I have an internal monologue but I also visualize a lot. When I read - I will read the sentences (each word lol) and then create a picture.
I am so glad to hear that! I followed tutorials to make it, but I chose to model my backgrounds off of the kinds of things my mind is doing in the background as I consider these things. The new video is uploading now and has a more technical and retro feel because my mind was feeling more "sharp" whereas on this day it was feeling more fluid.
ok....I don't think in words, I have to silently mouth when I read, I always walk myself through my routine out loud, I work really fast on tests, but I'm still confused
Dude.... I'm extremely creeped out. You and I are extremely, extremely similar. The way you describe the way you process information, not studying and still doing great in school, the sensory overload, how you read, how your thoughts and memories are more abstract and based on feelings, even the cold-reading (I call that empathy nowadays)..... We even are pretty similar physically. How the fuck is this possible??
People who dont have an inner monologue can still visualize things in their head... they just cant think in their own voice in their head... it's more about monologue... less about object visualization. The lack of object visualization is called aphantasia.
I've said this on other videos about this subject but I'll bring it up here too; I'm not sure what kind of thinker I am. When I'm thinking about responding or lets say an argument, I think in words. Not seeing the words but having them in my head like im speaking them disconnected from actually moving my mouth and speaking in reality. BUT I don't always have words in my head when I think/have thoughts. When I dream, I dream in all sorts of ways. I have visuals and audio cues aside from words that happen in my head. So in essence, I think I have both. But it's never exclusively one thing. Like when i read, i hear the words in my head in my voice but i also picture the visuals and simulated audio of what it would possibly sound like. I don't know how else to explain this.
Yes, I definitely hear the words in my head when I read a book, I also hear these words as I am typing them right now. When I need to do the dishes I literally just think that sentence in my head. I comment on stuff around me all the time in my head like “those shoes are ugly” 😂But when I daydream I can easily just think in pictures and emotions
As a word thinker, when I pay attention to someone talking, i hear them say the words in their voice, and almost simultaneously echo their words in my own voice in my head.
My inner monologue gets stuck on loop sometimes and I end up sitting there spaced out dying of anxiety, that’s sorta a day dream for me, but like for real it’s usually about a dream I had within that week and that’s the only reason I can create and image but I see it like at 20% opacity over whatever it is I zoned out looking at
This is blowing my mind. I’m going down a strange rabbit hole discovery the different ways people think. A lot of what you describe is so foreign to me. I’ve always heard people think differently but never understood it in this way. I always assumed it to mean people having different ideas and thoughts about things and arriving at different conclusions all while their experiences and mechanisms for thought were similar to my own. I never took it in a literal sense.
When you say "think in words", for most people it means hearing their own voice without moving their mouths. Like you know when you speak, you can hear your own words? When you have an internal monologue, you hear that same exact voice. The inner voice really actually sounds like the voice that your mouth produces.
I think people with internal monologue (myself) can think in words and pictures and feelings.. just because we can think in words doesn't mean that's the only way
I'm a visual thinker but I do have internal monologue, it's not always words...I don't know how to explain it. I was blown away when I heard that some people think in language.
I actually understand you. However, I can go back and forth from thinking in words, to just visualizing their shapes. It’s really neat to be able to shut it off at will, but being a musician, it is hard to get a song out of my head. Sometimes that can actually be intrusive. The crazy thing about it is that I was born totally blind. I can only see shadows and light. I have a very visual brain, though. People always ask me, “How can you see shapes in your mind?” I just tell them that if I even suggested a square block, you’d automatically see it in your mind’s eye. Now imagine that same block with letters on the sides of it. No matter what the letter, you’re thinking of what letters are on the block. That’s how I think. Even in music, chords are shapes. I can literally see a person’s fingers playing a piano when I hear a complex song. I don’t even have to know the song, but I can see the shapes of the chords as they’re being played. So I can relate to some of this.
Thanks for making this video, it was super interesting. I love that everyone is talking about this stuff now! I've always been really introspective about the nature of thought, and wondering how others' experiences differ, and I could never understand why so many people just didn't really seem interested in the topic when I would try to ask them about it. I also have visual and emotional components to my thoughts like you describe, it's just that there's a constant inner monologue (or in fact usually multiple layers of verbal thought streams) over the top. It's not so much that I *need* to process things verbally, more that it just happens constantly whether I want it to or not. A lot of the time it's actually just really distracting and not necessarily related to what I'm feeling / visualising / doing in that moment. Sometimes I will literally verbally think "I need to the dishes" but other times the need to do the dishes will occur to me just like you described, while my verbal thought stream is jabbering on about something completely unrelated. Likewise, when I'm speaking, I don't necessarily verbally plan out what I'm going to say before I say it -- in fact I think when I do it's a hindrance, and I'm more fluent when I'm able to just let my words follow my abstract intentions as you describe -- but again there is always a verbal thought stream going on in my head, whether or not it's actually related to what I want to say. It's impossible for me to 'switch off' the verbal channel - if I try not to verbalise any thoughts, I can't help but 'hear' my inner monologue saying stuff like "Am I doing it? Ah, no, dammit, I just verbally thought 'am I doing it' ! ". I think I'm always also having non-verbal thoughts / feelings, it's just that the verbal channel tends to be the most salient for me. Do you ever have 'spaces' between thoughts? Someone tried to explain a mindfulness exercise to me as focusing on the spaces between thoughts, and it just made no sense to me as my inner experience is a bunch of constant, overlapping thought streams, not a sequence of discrete 'thought packets' so to speak - so I'm curious if the concept of 'spaces' between thoughts makes sense to anyone else?
Pippa Shoemark Sometimes my mind goes blank and I have no thoughts This goes on for 30 sec or a minute I guess that is what I call ‘spaces’ between thoughts
@@ninaleninja that's so interesting, I really don't think I've ever experienced that! Thanks for sharing, I'm really appreciating learning about all these different ways in which people's inner experiences vary!
It blows my mind that more people aren't hybrids. Like for me I have super clear visualizations like thinking in images and emotions but then I can squeeze that down into words and an inner monologue so it's just a constant swirl of words, emotions, images, and "video". I feel like we're just discovering tools that all brains have access to and it's just a matter of developing those skills.
Ziggy Gunz I think I’m hybrid. I can visualise and often do which means inner voice is quiet. When required inner voice is used. I can have both but for many things, no inner voice required (and vice versa)
I have an inner monologue but it’s not like I can only think in words. It’s more so that I hear voices (can be my voice, other people’s voices, or voices with accents that I know well enough but it’s not a conscious decision) in addition to feeling and seeing it in my head. It’s not all going all the time. Usually I only need to hear words to process something and don’t need the other senses and vice versa. Like...I scream internally and hear it while also feeling whatever is making me scream. It’ll basically be something that makes me frustrated/scared but not enough to actually physically do it or I can’t for whatever reason.
I can choose to think in words, equally well in Norwegian and English, some French, some German. I can also think in programminglanguages like C++,JAVA,JavaScript etc. None of this comes as involuntary 'voices'.
I think i have the opposite of this. I have aphantasia, so i cant see anything with my mind's eye. I think exclusively in words and don't daydream or see any pictures in my mind. I wish i could turn off my inner dialogue sometimes, because my inner dialogue is constantly going. It's so cool to hear that this exists and that not all people think alike. It's funny how we just kinda assume we all think alike, so we never really discuss these things. I always assumed that when somebody says "imagine an apple" you don't actually see anything and it wasn't until i ended up asking a friends that I realized that i was the "weird" one lol
So what I find super interesting is, when you read fiction you don’t read the entire sentences, almost like you’re translating the words into pictures and sounds and feelings like a movie. I do the same thing when I’m reading a story but I HAVE an internal monologue. It’s like I tap into some part of my brain that shuts off my monologue and it’s like watching a movie in my head. But if I’m pulled out of that trance like state, the internal monologue starts back up. Interesting hearing your side and comparing it to my own and seeing that there’s a connection that mirrors each other even with our different ways we interpret the world.
Violet Hour Vision I convert words to images/movie when I read (or movie to words when writing) if I’m into what I’m reading, but I do have the monologue to a degree too. So I hear the word, create the movie, repeat
Looks like we share some common traits. I don't know how you have the courage to be on cam like that, I find it really hard to post any video of me talking to a camera. But thanks for sharing so we can think about the way we think. lol im sure most people never take the time to get to know ones self. Great vid man, keep it up.
Do you hear songs in your head? With lyrics? From what I understand really impressive musicians can play their pieces entirely in their head, not sure I could do that but I have a constant (if incomplete 😛) playlist going through my head all day...
What's interesting is that how he reads is how we skim something. I can do the same exact thing but there's no pleasure in it. I wouldn't skim my favorite book but an article I had to read for a class? I'd skim and read the most important information
I think people who do think in words don't realize that we're not 100% of the time thinking in words. We dont always feel emotions saying internally "I feel this". I think people with internal monologue do this obviously far less than those without so it feels impossible to be able to "think" without monologue. Super interesting
I get that existential dread. Not in my sleep but right before I go to sleep. Mine comes from mistakes I've made in the past, I think. And I guess just feeling trapped and confused. Idk.
10:43 the answer is yes. I can replay a song (not 100 percent accurate...more like 80 to 90 percent with maybe a small detail missing) with conversations i'll hear the friend or family members voice playing in my head. I will replay what they said a few times. Especially if it is from someone of importance. Sometimes a "mental fog" can set in...like when you forget a little bit of what someone told you something years ago. Sometimes your brain can play a mean trick on you and fabricate something that didnt happen at all, even though you'd swear up and down it did. A "false memory" so to speak. Like seeing a scene in a movie where a character goes to a store and buys something and leaves and you think you did it because its such a non chalent thing. Everybody goes to the store...this is a common activity and easy to integrate. Stuph like that. I still remember peoples voices from long ago...i have forgotten others entiely. This will happen.
I mainly think in images (real and abstract). I think in verbalizations when I am going to talk to someone about a subject I talk to them in my head before I meet them. I daydream a lot.
I feel like a do a bunch of these all the time. I think out loud at home all the time, but sometimes revert to thinking in my head with words. I also think in movie style where I’m seeing something play out in my head with dialogue in words. I suppose I occasionally have an immediate thought without dialogue that might involve feeling like he described with doing dishes and just seeing a flash of dirty dishes and the feeling of dread
Hey, just found your channel and you are really comfortable to watch. I relate to most of what you are explaining about your thought posses. The only key differense I can think of (as I am writing this) is that I can think in words. I can hear my voice in my own head, but like you said it's far more efficient to think in symbols and images: that's also why I enjoy the mathematical language of symbols, unlike you. Once again great video. Thanks for posting. Have a lovely day.
I’m curious what empathy is like for you. For me, I hear what happened to someone else and then picture myself in their situation, feel the emotion, and my internal monologue says, “oh that’s so sad, this feels terrible.” Do you just feel the emotion of whatever you think their experience is like?
It's like a short cut or the lazy way. Like we are telepathic with ourselves, we just get it without words. Like when you get an idea at first or remember something. I assume there are no words for the first second. Its always like that for most if not all thoughts.
This was such an interesting video! The bits about ready and math is exactly how I am. In school it made me lag behind a lot. I can think with words though, like I can imagine hearing my voice in my head but everything is very much emotional based the words are just extra. The human brain is so complex
My classmate has the opposite problem, he can't think in pictures. He's an amazing programmer because he always thinks through things logically, but he can't picture abstractions at all.
I actually don’t know what internal voice sounds like I have memory of how I sound or how someone else’s voice sound but I can hear A voice when thinking or talking to myself
Super interesting, have you ever seen a movie where someone says something and that same character narrates in voiceover? Like if a character asks a girl out nervously and terribly, there’s an awkward pause and the narrator (Who is that characters thoughts) would say “well shi*, there went any chance I’ve ever had.” That’s what an inner monologue is like, you can hear your voice commenting on things. Like in a conversation that’s new, I’m like “ok... going good so far... don’t keep eye contact too long... perfect... oh crap, they’re getting bored... bring it to a more interesting subject... there, cool.” It’s like Everybody Hates Chris, we have a narrator in our head we reflect on things through. I think like some others said, it comes down to how the brain is wired; for some the emotions translate into words, and your inner voice can sound like whoever you want, you could talk like Morgan Freeman if you want lol although it’s a little more energy. But for others you feel the feels and see the thoughts but words aren’t involved unless you’re speaking. I should say though the voice is distinct, like I hear it for sure, but similar to you picturing things like dishes, it’s not the same as real life. Basically it’s not a hallucination where you could confuse the thoughts with someone speaking in real life. It’s subdued like a thought, just like you would never see a picture of dishes in your head and think it’s real. When I write music, I hear it and can shift ideas around in my head. Once I touch a piano, my concentration tanks because the new sound in real life can cancel out what I had in my head, and I might forget my idea so it’s actually easier for me to write in my head first. So hearing sound in your head is a similar concept that is probably only possible for people with inner dialogue. Once again though, it’s not the same as hearing it “out loud,” you know it’s a dream-like thought construct and would never think “is that in my head or at I actually hearing that?” It’s so subdued that it’s clear enough to mentally “hear” but you KNOW it’s your mind not real life.
I mostly think in words. However when I'm very excited I think in shapes. It's kinda weird to describe but a shape comes in mind that to me perfectly represents my thoughts but then I have to translate it to words so I can share my thoughts with another human. Also.very rarely I I feels as I think on a format I can't describe. Its not a shape, not a word, it's mostly like a composition of a color and a smell and a feeling.
Daydreaming can be like just getting lost in thought momentarily. Words, or sound, hold similar weight with regard to senses, i.e. hearing or seeing via the minds eyes. That's how I view it. I was never a daydreamer; however, if I did, it would most comfortably be with just an inner monologue. So, yes we do "daydream" with words. Edit: I also work on cars, lol random 😅
Dr Gary Weber says it takes from ten thousand to thirty thousand hours of meditation to switch off the Default Mode Network in the brain which is the source of the internal dialogue,/monologue, mind chatter or 'as they say in the East the "monkey mind.'" According to Dr Weber this is a way stage to Awakening or Enlightenment. Having amassed many thousands of hours of meditation over more than fifty years I now have hours of internal stillness and while this is quite delightful I cannot claim that this is contributing to any level of non dual awareness or Awaking. I have aphantasia and I don't hear thoughts which is probably connected to this so I guess I am adding ever educing internal chatter to my attributes or deficits. I have always been pretty good at abstract thinking so I can say that aphantasia is no barrier to this. Many of your attributes correspond to those enjoyed by the Awake (which should not be confused with so called Awoke Culture!) There is much by Dr Weber and on the Default Mode Network and other brain networks on UA-cam.
Considering the way you read books it would be interesting to hear what you think about audio books. Have you ever listened to one? Did you feel like it was a waste of time/too slow? Do you get more into the story because you can't skim it and you have to listen to every detail?
I don’t really think in words I think in a voice like an inner voice. It’s low and it’s exactly like my own voice but very pleasant. My inner voice never stutters but I also think in pictures too. I have OCD and I get intrusive thoughts that can be phrases or pictures of disturbing things. I would call my thinking vocal which makes me highly sensitive to people’s tones and to how people speak to me. Also I do t have any silent moment it’s none stop in my head. I can’t look at a basketball without my inner voice chattering away.
I don't really think in words or images (as this guy seemingly does) most of the time, unless I make a conscious effort to think sentences. Until a Twitter thread several months ago I thought a literal internal monologue in actual sentences was just a dramatic device used to represent thought in fiction
I hear my thoughts in words but I also share similar traits as you. As far as reading I have to read the whole sentence to understand it.. I find my self reading sentences more than once because sometimes when reading a book I’ll get lost and have to go back two paragraphs to fully know what happened same with watching tv
I’m in a loophole since I found out people can’t hear their thoughts .. and they don’t have an internal monologue with themselves I always thought we all did, this is crazyyyy
im assuming its very rare anyway
ladybassguitarplayer yes I think is weird for both parts!!
Lizziejnb I can’t hear or see my thoughts... I don’t see pictured or shapes or anything... my mind is like floating in space and my words are invisible and inaudible
I'm still not entirely convinced these people who claim to not have an internal monologue are actually telling the truth. Like, at the beginning of this video, the guy says he doesn't like looking at himself. I imagine he's at least thought of that before to himself? I feel like it's a semantic issue and everybody has a different way of describing their experiences but that our experiences are ultimately closer than we think. We might all just have different language describing the same thing. Stuff like internal monologues and visualization isn't very concrete and clear like a plate of food right in front of you for example. How can you even read without an internal monologue saying the words?
Jesus Christ you can’t know what’s in someone else’s brain, so not fathoming their way of thinking is perfectly natural. But I Never knew people had actual DAYDREAMS and could close their eyes and see their memories.
Til a week ago, I thought it was a figure of SPEACH! So saying you don’t Believe them is ok, but it’s not gonna be correct. Do you have visions when you close your eyes? I could just very well say I don’t believe you too... I have an internal monologue but I don’t See memories or picture things. All I see is darkness, maybe a few swirls of color from light coming in through my eyelids. But no objects or shapes... It’s all I’ve ever known. I have internal monologue but it’s like... inaudible and invisible... I can’t hear my own voice when I think it, I can’t see myself think it... I just know I thought it.
Some people only see a series of WORDS or descriptions. Some have faint pictures, some have full on movie full details.
But you can’t just NOT BELIEVE them just because you don’t KNOW their experience
see how that works? Just because you only know something one way, doesn’t mean someone else doesn’t see it a different way.
My daydream isnt just words. Like it's a movie in my head but with dialogues. So i am at the beach for example and i see the ocean and then someone asks me if i want ice cream and only the last part is in words.
Reletable
That’s still such an odd concept to me. In my daydreams and actual dreams there are no words. It’s more just images and feelings. Growing up I actually had reoccurring nightmares where I would be in different situations and I was unable to call for help because I couldn’t say anything or scream (don’t know if that’s actually related to my thought processes tho)
@@ellan1664 it's not, it's a common nightmare. I both see and hear my thoughts, and I used it get that nightmare often. My theory is it represents feeling powerless.
Yeaah
i dont even know if i dream with words. there isnt much dialogue and if there is its not a dialogue like in the movies. I remember one dream where I was arguing but it was a telepathical kind of sharing pictures with someone. if i dream about the peope that i have dialogues with in real life, it continues when i try to sleep. but in deep REM sleep i doubt if i have whole sentences. its all feelings and sometimes faces and situations. I hear music and see colours but words i dont think during rem. i hope not. i dont remember my dreams. if i have a whole conversation its never a real deep dream im half awake then.
We don't HEAR our thoughts the same way you 'd hear somebody talking. Just like you "see" something, you're IMAGINING seeing something that's not actually there. We IMAGINE the sound of words being spoken without actually hearing them. And yes, we do repeat all the words in our head as we read 😂 Hope that helps. (I'm curious how those few sentences were "pictured" in your head 😂)
Thank you! I will try and answer your curiosity in the next video!
@@royhairstoncomedy8112 please do!
Krista Klauke I do? Inflections and everything. Is that abnormal?
ballerina2rockerchik I do also. In my head if I know the person really well I that I am talking to I can hear their voice in my inner conversation. Same with reading a text or email from them. I can hear how they would say the sentences.
i totally misread this the first time. yes you put it accurately. we dont hear an actual voice, its still an imagination of the voice. that would be very distracting to have an actual voice going on in your head😅 sorta like what some people with Schizophrenia suffer from....
I’m not lying when I tell you this video literally helped me understand my husband so much better. Up until today I had no idea he didn’t have an inner monologue and he didn’t know I thought in words! We’ve been together for 10 years!! You really helped me understand why he is the way he is. Everything makes so much sense now! Thank you so much
Glad to hear!
i am just curious as to how you think having no internal monologue has affected him as a person? i think i just figured out i also have no internal monologue and i’m trying to figure out what makes me and my understanding of things so different
Same scenario, just learned that my husband doesn't have internal monologue and also has aphantasia.
a GREAT example of “hearing” thoughts for example is the way Joe narrates in “YOU” on netflix. his thoughts in the middle of situations are put into a narration and that is almost exactly what its like when we just automatically think in audible words in our heads.
I couldn't imagine that, I have always thought it seemed so unrealistic when shows did that.
This is exactly accurate.
@@royhairstoncomedy8112 yeah, that's exactly how i found out that not having an internal monologue was abnormal- i was watching an episode of Seinfeld, and Elaine was talking to herself in her head, and that has always annoyed me when TV shows do that, so I wrote about it on my livejournal- how it's so unrealistic when they depict people's thoughts in TV shows as if they're actually speaking in their heads, and everyone who replied to me was like, "Uh, that is actually how people think."
@@royhairstoncomedy8112 When you read do the words play back in your head? When you're debating with someone online and you think about what their possible rebuttals could be or what the right words are to communicate your position, do you come up with words to say in your head? I can't see how you'd just have no thoughts and be able to come up with a proper rebuttal to somebody who disagrees with you.
@@Krista2882 Well obviously the way they do it in shows is not very realistic. But, when you think: "Oh, how annoying that is when they do that on TV shows, it's so unrealistic." how do you know you find it annoying without specifying it with words? How do you even come up with something to say in these comments if you don't have a coherent train of thoughts? I know I don't think in a one track mind sort of way, but often I'll be thinking about something and it goes off on a tangent into something else and then to another thing, and next thing I know I don't remember what I was thinking about before. I don't believe you that you think it's annoying without at least having a basic concept of what you think is annoying in words. I don't think anybody would claim that straight up words are what people hear when there are thoughts in their head.
I think my thoughts are a mixture of both. Everything he's talking about doesn't seem weird to me and a lot of them I do it the same way, but I can think in words and sometimes I do talk to my self in my head but it feels restricting and slow in comparison. Sometimes there are sentence fractures so I start thinking a sentence but cut it off and pictures and feelings take over as thought.
I’m exactly the same. I think it’s a scale. I’ve seen an interview where the girl said she could not even imagine a conversation/argument with someone else, but like this guy here I am able to imagine a conversation with someone and sometimes specific words, mixed in with emotions/the general feeling
Ella N completely agree, I’m the same way. I just came from another video that interviewed a girl with no inner monologue and I just couldn’t understand why people are so blown away by this. But like you said I’m guessing there has to be a spectrum like you said.
Niki
Research shows that most people use many ways to think. People with no inner monologue OR on the other end with no visualization are in the minority for sure
I also mostly think in feelings (if you can call it that) and my thoughts just shift. But if I want to or sometimes randomly, I think in words, sentences and sentence fragments
It's something I thought a lot about... How do we think? And to me it's mostly not grasp able to be honest
anyone else watching these internal monologue discussion videos and realising we've all been overlooking a really fundamental aspect of how different people experience the world?
not to overreact or anything, but i feel like study of the arts, language, history, mathematics, pretty much every field of human intelligence and creativity could all be affected by a widespread understanding of internal monologues and how they work.
maybe discovering whether you've developed one from a young age or not could even lead to a more effective education system that groups people by how they visualise concepts and then using different learning techniques for the benefit for each group.
Yep! I just discovered the work of Russell T Hurlburt, this one psychology professor who's been working on understanding variety in people's inner experiences for decades now, and it's so interesting and so exciting and uhh yeah, exactly, not to overreact either but I really think it could change the world if everybody knew about this ... hurlburt.faculty.unlv.edu/sampling.html
I don’t think you’re overreacting at all! I work with kids, and I was just thinking this as well!! To me, this whole inner monologue thing really seems to boil down to being an auditory learner vs being a visual learner, which should absolutely be better integrated into the education system.
@@pipyoolike thanx for the link: that looks interesting!
My thoughts exactly! I'm a teacher, and this really made me rethink the way we teach today.
Yes!! I’m looking at my three year old and wondering what he thinks now lol. This could explain so much about learning styles, how to teach math and language, therapy, music. I feel like we’ve been missing out on an incredible tool because both groups just assumed we did it the same 😂
1) when we daydream it’s visual and we can use words. like i’ll imagine a conversation with someone and i’ll see them and hear what i’m saying to them in my head as well as what they’re saying.
2) yes we can hear our thoughts in our head lol
this whole thing is tripping me out so much i can’t comprehend how nonverbal thinkers think
This is so fascinating to me, someone who has novels, musicals and conversations in their head :P
Musicals? I would go insane.
@@jimmyjohnjuan Since I'm the director, I can end it whenever I want 🤭
What I'm getting from this, is you think like everyone else, just without the words, and you feel the meaning of the imagery and emotional snapshots much more sensitively. I think everyone can think in images, sounds, and words, but some people don't NEED the added context of all words, just the key ones, so they just...don't. Dude. I have so much to say about this. We need to do a podcast.
Let's do it for next video!
Some people can't think in images, sounds and words AT ALL. Look into Aphantasia. For some people it's just feelings, emotions and abstract concepts, that's all. For few others there are no emotions at all. Just factual memory, their minds are always blank.
Basil Walls I cannot see a picture in my head for the life of me. I have ptsd and I’m thinking that childhood trauma could affect this. I have no memory of my home life or the ppl in it before age ten. Not one. Anyway I’m just really curious if this has a connection..
Basil Walls not really... like when you go to Meditate, people do guided meditations... I don’t see anything they tell me to so I thought I was doing it wrong... I have no movies images in my head... like I’m floating in space but I don’t see myself... it’s basically when I close my eyes I see outer space in the back of my eyelids but I can’t put pictures or videos or words in my head
Why do you hate seeing yourself? You're a handsome fella with a charismatic vibe. You're good. :) That being said...I'm down the middle. I have an internal monologue with a vivid daydream capability, but I also find myself saying things out loud (in a whisper)...
I am jealous of your ability to cold read people and get through books on key words.
anyone can learn to cold read, all you need to do is look at their face where they are talking, you will see everything!
You are the first person to explain this to me in a way I can understand sith the dishes analogy! For me as a word thinker, I see the dirty dishes in the sink and “hear” my voice in my head saying “ugh I’ve got to do dishes. We had tacos last night so that pan is going to be so annoying to clean out. Why can’t my husband have done it last night for me? Now it’s caked on. Maybe I should soak it. What are we having for dinner tonight? Does it need that pan? Maybe I can soak it and he can do it in the morning.” And it’s a constant stream of consciousness type talking.
As a word thinker, I don’t actually hear it just like you don’t actually see it. The voice in my head is mine, although if I imagine someone talking or arguing with me then I can hear someone else’s voice. It is definitely imaginary because it can’t get quieter or louder, it’s one volume. And it’s constant. Like someone following you around and constantly talking, commenting on what they see. If you’ve ever had a six year old follow you around, it’s exactly like that. Constant background chatter that you can’t turn off
you should definitely make a video with someone who does have an internal monologue so that you can understand how they process things
This exactly! I can chose to bring words & sentences forward. I then scan through them & take what is needed to understand the general idea & emotions. It takes a lot of effort & energy for me to do this. I don’t hear any sound in my natural uncontrolled thoughts. It’s an instantaneous thing that happens. But I can hear what I feel like is sound if I choose to. For instance, when I have a song stuck in my head. When I watch movies that use an internal dialogue to show the persons perspective, I have always felt as if they were overdoing it. It has never felt accurate to my experiences. My theory is that there are different levels on the inner monologue spectrum. Some people have a verbalized inner monologue with sound, some people have a verbalized inner monologue without sound, some people have no verbal inner monologue just instantaneous thoughts & some people have the ability to pull any of those forward. Which is the category I feel like I fit into. I hope this makes sense! Thanks for the video! 😊
I have to say...you've explained this perfectly. Me...with an internal dialogue, actually gets where you're coming from. It sounds more big picture and less selfish. It's a more logical frame of mind. I admire this.
@jenniferlefski Thank you! Some things are very hard to explain & I tried my best hoping it would make sense lol. It’s like trying to explain color to a blind person.
Marlei Pierson 😱😱😱
I’m shocked! I went my whole life until today thinking everyone thought like me, through words! Now I’m watching all these videos about it. Pretty cool hearing your experiences and thought process! Thanks for explaining all of this. To me, it’s like I’m narrating things like the “Narrator” you hear in movies. “Ok... I’m gonna do the dishes. Oh wow there’s a lot of dishes. They’re so dirty, is that a crack in the dish?? Oh God I’m gonna have to buy another dish to replace it” except these conversations happen in my head all over the place. While doing dishes I can conversate things about what I’ll do tomorrow, I’ll talk full sentences about every possible thing. I also like to visualize feelings and stuff, like thinking about the feeling of a hug etc. When people talk to me, I unconsciously, and very quickly pretty much repeat their sentences in my head to comprehend it. I know it sounds slow but I guess I don’t really notice that and it happens very quickly. Anywho that’s a look into my thinking. Again, thanks for sharing!
I’m definitely someone with a hardcore internal monologue! Wanted to add my two cents about daydreaming, I still see images but it’s primarily like listening to an audiobook in my head, then the pictures come after I sort out the words for it.
You touched on mental health. Someone like myself that has an internal monologue and I’m in a dark mindset I speak in my head and put myself down with the feelings of feeling sad and depressed. As for daydreaming it is imagery but also with words that are spoken between myself and whoever is in my daydream. If there’s someone speaking in my daydream it’s their voice I hear in my head and my voice if I’m talking. In regards to the dishes example I would speak in my head I have to do the dishes with the imagery of the dishes. With reading I speak the words I read in my head at the same time imagining whatever I’m reading and each character has their own voice that I hear in my head and that’s created by whatever description of them thats written and what my mind perceives what they would sound like.
Yes we hear our own voice in our head.
I dont "hear" my voice in my head. I just hear the words - like I whisper. It doesnt really sound like anything to me, but I think in words.
I can also hear other voices in my head.. like a really famous persons voice.. if it's a sentence they used to say on a show: like Joey from Friends saying: 'How you doing?' if i read that sentence i hear Joey say it..
My voice in my head is a much nicer voice than my speaking voice, higher pitched and softer , totally weird! When I hear my speaking voice i don't recognise it. In my head my accent is different too! 🙈🙈
@@alexbuchanan4351 interesting! Is that why people don't like to hear their own voices? Cuz i dont hear mine actively, don't have inner monologue, so I don't mind hearing myself on audio.
How do you feel this would impact a romantic relationship with someone who thinks the opposite way?
If you're having an argument or disagreement are you listening to everything they're telling you about how they feel?
Once the conversation is over what do you think? Are you thinking of how that conversation went and how that person is feeling based on what they've communicated?
When going to resolve the arguement how do you decide how you will respond? Are you only responding logically?
This is crazy to me but connecting alot of dots now lol!
New video is uploading now and I used this question a lot! Thank you for asking it.
yes I would like to see that. cant wait!
My ex husband is more like him, and I think linguisticly like most ppl do.
You're right! I was a better communicator, and he was more logic-based. I over-think everything, and he would make lists, and plan everything ahead. His mind was more of a computer database and mine was a messy cabinet overflowing with words and pictures.
All the same emotions, but it's like the operating system is a just little different.
@@bodyofhope but I don't think these are related. I have no inner monologue, I'm good with communication, although hard sometimes to put my feelings into words, but I think that goes for many people. But I don't plan everything ahead etc. Im certainly not logical and I also overthink and feel like a mess sometimes. Inner voice is just you word out those thoughts in your mind.. Which I don't do. I just feel it abstractly.
Yes, we hear our own voice... in our heads. So its not like someone (or ourselves) is speaking into our ears. We kinda just "imagine" ourselves talking. Example: *laying in bed* inner voice "ugh, i need to start packing for my trip first thing in the morning". Also, we read every word & then comprehend the whole sentence (or "paint the picture"). For example when reading the sentence "The little blue house sat high up on a hill." I read every word and piece the picture together as i add each word to the sentence 😂 This is so interesting to me lol.
But i do this. Does this mean i have an inner monolouge.
Jetta.Silence yes
I have the capability to think sentences in words in my head but often don’t. I wouldn’t ever actually use the pronoun “I” in my thoughts, rather picture an empty suitcase and thinking the words “must” and “pack”
Nah for the day dream part, we can see it like a dream but can add dialogue
mendaix mind blown
I’ve been very interested in this subject lately. I have a Psych degree. I’ve been trying to figure out whether this is something that is genetic and, therefore, is an evolutionary adaptation or dead end trait (or vice versa) OR if it’s simply a learned trait and what advantage (if any) it possesses. My experience is just anecdotal and my inner monologue might have always been there, but I just learned to use and explore it.
I recall, as an adolescent I became aware at one point that my thoughts and words didn’t always match. That is, sometimes what I thought I said isn’t what my mind thought. So I began to slow down my speech and start thinking about what I was going to say first. Later my own thoughts became subject to internal examination through a dialogue. Psychologist call this metacognition. This was a bit nerve wracking up through my late teens because it doesn’t seem normal. But through this process, I think I trained myself to have an acute inner voice. And while I did become a mindful person with plenty of foresight on many matters, I found that I began to overthink many simple situations causing indecision. It was also pretty “noisy” lying in bed if I was stressed. Drinking most nights to dull the inner voice was standard practice for years. In time I began to learn to rely more again on my intuition and instincts. That happens through activities that require being present on the moment and texting to stimuli. For me it was most martial arts and auto racing. Meditation helps too.
My hypothesis is that I think we might be born with the capacity of an inner voice and mind’s eye that some just learn to use, even rely upon, over time. I’m not sure if it’s a binary trait or a spectrum people are on like an acute sense of taste and smell. And what, if anything, can we learn about the psychology of people who do or don’t have this?
This is the most mind blowing shit I ever seen and heard I can’t imagine dude, u are amazing bro
xoxopeacebringer I don’t have daydreams or hear my thoughts... I have no visuals in my head either... this whole thing is a total trip
Firstly, let me congratulate you for making a great video! Very entertaining, very thoughtful, down-to-earth, and chill. It is really interesting to find out that someone thinks differently than you do. There’s a book you might like called Moonwalking with Einstein, by Joshua Foer. He talks about researching and competing in the national memory championship. He mentioned that trick of associating things with meaningful images to create a mental map in your head that you can then “read” back.
I also read somewhere that politition’s speaches are crafted to have as little imagery in them as possible so that they can sound like they’re saying something meaningful without saying anything at all, and you won’t catch it, because there’s no concrete imagery to focus on.
I think my best friend has this. I was explaining to her how i have a hard time falling asleep bc my brain creates a world or scenario or puts me in my favorite book more movie and plays through and she can not fathom it. She can't imagine anything apparently. But looking back on it she really says everything out loud that I would think. If she's reading or making a list or deciding what chores to do she says it all verbally. Interesting
At the other end of the spectrum people cannot visualize but can hear their thoughts.
Does anyone else sometimes move their tongue while they’re talking inside their head as if they’re actually forming those words?
I read once that in the future there may be technology that can "read your mind" (or at least those that have internal monologue) because a lot of people's vocal chords move as they're thinking (attempting to form the words to speak them aloud) and they might be able to track that and translate it
I don’t really move my tongue but I do notice my throat muscles or vocal chords moving like I’m using them when I’m talking in my head
Lydia K never noticed that but I definitely do
@@tc8247 the same to me, and sometimes the tension kinda hurt
@@emmalynnhanson scary...
I find this sort of thing fascinating, hearing how other people think. I do think with words, and I also think with pictures as well. When I read I can imagine the scene. I do read each word and if a character is speaking, I can hear their voice in my head. I think basically like how I'm typing this, this is my thoughts that I'm just writing out.
As for mental health issues, like you mentioned in your video, I have depression and the voice in my mind can be mean to me. It's hard to explain. It's like, "Oh wow, look at me, being an absolute failure." And then I can't stop thinking about all the things I've said wrong or times I've messed up. It's annoying and I wish I could make that stop.
But anyway, thank you for this enlightening video. I learned a lot!
To the reading question, i read the words in my head as if its being played in my head. Like when you start reading fast enough, its not like its narriated at morgan freeman speeds, its more like fragmented thouhts. If i read the sentence "the fighter plane did a strafing run at the tank" im hearing my inner voice say word for word that, but the imagery and the sounds unfold at real time. I hear the engine roar, the bullets leave the wings gun mounts, the plank sounds of them hitting the tanks, and the climbing hum of the fighter plane gaining altitude and preparing another attack run. Its not just imagery, and certainly not just words....a culmination of everything about the situation. The more descripters the better the experience.
Do people talk in your daydreams?
Not reading every word in a novel would take away from the experience of the eloquent writing that sets the mood.
So you would have to give yourself a pep talk aloud?
At least you hear other voices in your dreams, but that is odd that you never speak back.
Do you replay past arguments in your head, where you hear them talking and you can talk back, and differently from what you had actually said?
I, too, imagine the dirty dishes and feel the dread, but I also hear my voice say, “ Crap! I still gotta go the dishes! Omgggg ughhh”. There is simply a caption to the images in my head, if that makes sense.
Do you hear the varying voices of the characters in a book in your head while you are reading it? Did you hear Elon Musk’s voice narrating his book?
Maybe are comfortable on stage because you didn’t have to rehearse your lines over and over in your head which causes anxiety, as does thinking about all of the people who could potentially hate it. Do you not worry about those things?
Thank you for all the well thought out questions! I will make another video and try my best to answer them!
Let's Talk Nonsense That would be awesome, thanks!!
These are great questions!
People who think in words can mostly also think in pictures. So daydreaming for the majority of people is similar to how you do it, visualising what you're imagining, but also with a monologue over the top. It is rare to not both picture and speak through the things you are thinking.
What he’s saying doesn’t add up tbh. “Think about the words you’re going to say before you say them” is thinking about the impact of what you’ll say. It’s not like we stand and think about exactly word for word what we’ll say before we say it. You know how much lag there would be when people communicate/talk to each other if that was how it works. We just have a general feeling of what we’ll say. You were trying to say that you see images when you read but so do people with internal voices. When I read a book as a “ word thinker” I read it and those descriptive words start to paint a picture that causes me to imagine it at the same time. Word thinkers can think in images, sounds/words, and feelings. I believe you have this idea that you have an advantage and are thinking abstractly or in a smarter more efficient way. In actuality you’re missing out. A lot of the stuff you described is true for people with internal voices too. It’s not like we’re constantly talking to ourselves in ourself in our head we just have the ability to think like you and to write an essay without rereading it
I feel like something is different, but as I said in the video I dont either is any better or worse than the other. I would imagine there would be some lag if you are thinking out each individual word, which, as I said in the video, I couldn't imagine having to do so it makes sense to me that you don't actually do that but I don't know. The main point of the video was to describe the way I think so I can figure what exactly is different. Thanks for your perspective though, it makes sense. I guess what I could say is definitely different is that I don't normally process things with an internal voice or in words. I do think it is faster in some ways, but much less specific or accurate in others, so I dont think it is better or smarter, really if anything it's less "smart" more than likely since it seems I am lacking something that other people seem to have.
"It’s not like we’re constantly talking to ourselves in our head" - see, for me, that *is* the case. So I often feel like I'm lacking something too, which would be the ability to switch *off* my inner speech (I do have some control over what I verbally think about, but I've never been able to mute it entirely). Seems there's a whole spectrum of experiences rather than just those 'with' and 'without' an internal monologue :)
Question:
Are you able to empathize with others easily?
Do you struggle to understand where other ppl are coming from, or can you put yourself in other people's shoes easily? When someone is going through a difficult time- specifically something you've never experienced yourself, are you able to connect to their feelings and understand their situation fairly easily?
14:34 my answer .... yes I have to repeat what Im reading in my head to retain it. I could just look at the words/scan them in the appropriate left to right order but I wouldn’t call that reading because I won’t retain the information. I’ll have to re-read it at that point. It’s important to note that I am not a slow reader though. I can get through a book very quickly. I love reading. When I hear the words aloud in my head they come immediately after viewing the words on paper. There is barely even a delay.
Thank you for putting this up! I think we think very similarly. What are you on the MBTI scale? I'm an INFJ. We're often credited with being "empaths." My gut instinct on first impression is often right. I also think in visuals and abstract concepts and lots of emotion. When I have imaginary "arguments" with people, I usually end up doing it out loud!
Yes I repeat every word I read in my head as I read it and yes it does drive me completely fucking insane. I hate reading because the “sound” of myself speaking each word in my head is actually so distracting that it’ll prevent me from actually processing what I read. So I’ll have to read the same thing multiple times. On the other hand, however, I am very very good at articulating myself with words. And yes, I’m “saying” and “hearing” myself say each of these words as I type them. It’s impossible for me not to.
Also, sometimes while I’m reading something I’ll also be thinking about something else. This also interferes with me processing read information because there’s multiple “conversations” happening in my head at once.
You say that you pick out key words. I’ve ALWAYS thought about how I wish I could that. I’ve tried to do it. It’s so insanely hard for me when reading something to distinguish between really important and unimportant information. Every single thing is important to me-for the most part. I’m quite jealous of how your brain works homie
I have the same thing as you!
I had to rewind like 100 times to really hear every word that you said.
I've seen people point out that even if you have an internal monologue it's not like you talk to yourself in your brain all day everyday. I bet there are differences on how we think even among all of us who do have a voice in our heads, but for me I have a voice all the time. maybe it's not me talking to myself, but if not its random thoughts about what I might need to do, things that pop into my head (like "wow that burger looks good" when looking at a burger) or even my voice singing a song.
you spoke about mental health and trauma, and I believe we all have it as bad because we think in pictures/abstract thoughts and feelings like you or in words (mostly) like me. as someone who suffers from anxiety and depression, I wish I could turn off the voice.in my head speaking constantly and telling me awful things. but I also think it would be terrifying to have the same happening with pictures or like a movie inside my head.
thanks for the fascinating video
It seems really efficient to think this way, but as someone who doesn’t, I much prefer thinking LESS efficiently. For example if I come across a concept or word that I don’t understand, I love to just sit there and mull over it trying to get to know it better. I can sit for hours trying to analyze the how or why of something.
It's awesome to appreciate our different ways of seeing things! Glad to know you enjoy the way you think!
Agreed!! I feel like it makes me eloquent, able to communicate how I’m feeling more effectively, dissect complex ideas and finally cracking it because of one important word. I can see how big picture stuff would be easier with abstract thought but going over things with words helps with small detail things
For me, I think in words and pictures, so if I’m thinking about something that has an associated image (going hiking, feeding my cat, paying a bill) I’ll have a feeling about it, I’ll visualize it, and I’ll also hear my an abstract version of my voice kind of narrating the whole thing over top of it. If there’s not an image associated with it (like thinking about word choice) then it’s just the narration which sometimes argues with itself.
Hey, this video was made based on the article and video I made and I just wanted to let you know that I have been participating in the research that this has been about. You did a great job at describing your thoughts and I genuinely believe you have a good interpretation of your thoughts. I learned through this experience that everyone thinks differently, and as you put it, have a different "automatic system." Mine happens to be words, some are feelings, and others are something called unsymbolized thoughts. If you have interest in this stuff, i recommend checking out my channel to watch me participate in the research of a world renowned clinical psychologist!
If you wanna discuss each others processes for an interview, hmu.
Thanks for taking the time to comment! I might just do that.
@@royhairstoncomedy8112 rlangdon6994@gmail.com if you are interested in doing a little podcast style discussion.
This is absolutely insane to me. Everything I hear or say gets relayed back to me by my own voice in my head. Like when I'm talking to someone, I can hear everything single word in my head before they come out and when the person replies I hear their words in my head as if it's my own voice, while also going through irrelevant thought tangents about their choice of words or specific details of the message. I have to focus a lot when talking to other people because it can be very easy for me to get lost in thought, even when I'm the person talking.
When I'm reading a book, it takes a while because i'm reading the words out loud in my head but I'm also having thoughts about it so I usually have to read the same sentence twice or more, focusing on actually reading and not going on some random tangent about irrelevant details. I daydream a lot, but it's like a BBC documentary with directors commentary. Everything is vivid and there is constant narration. Like, while I'm typing this I hear the words in my mind and then one word would spark a daydream and I would sit for a minute just thinking about whatever comes up and then remember I was busy typing and I would have to read the entire paragraph again to know where I was before I dosed off lmao.
Hah, you are exactly like me. I usually only read the first 2-3 pages of a book, because my imagination takes over and creates a much more interesting continuation of the plot, events and places. When talking to a person I always evaluate their choice of words and intentions behind them etc. When I'm approaching someone I always have already prepared what and how to say to them.
I'm the type 1 and my mind thinks in images, sentences, scenes, etc. I can visualize everything, when people tell me things that happened to them I'm visualizing it as they're talking, like a movie. I don't narrate in my mind, I just think thoughts automatically and some of it is in sentences as if I'm talking to myself conversationally, other thoughts are images or scenes. If I'm thinking about something that happened yesterday I'm remembering it as a scene, as it happened. If I'm planning in my mind what I'm going to do tomorrow I'm picturing it, listing it, or talking it out in my mind. I don't physically see anything with my eyes closed, I visualize it with my imagination in my head, very easily and naturally. If someone tells me about something and I don't know what it looks like, I imagine it. I design what it might look like without even trying, my mind just automatically does that. Even if my design isn't want it actually looks like, my mind needs to make up some image as a reference point. I don't physically/audibly hear voices, I just imagine or remember them in my mind or I imagine my own voice talking to me but it's not really like a conversation, it's more like acknowledgement or confirmation of what I'm seeing. For example right now, instantly, I can imagine my mother's voice and face and her mannerisms - even though I haven't seen her in almost a year. There's a bank teller in another town that I've only talked two twice in my entire life but because we had an interesting albeit short conversation, I can remember her face and her voice and imagine her in my mind even though it was over a week or two ago. Imagining things makes life full of surprises because you imagine how things might be and when you finally lay eyes on what it actually is you're like oh damn that's not what I expected!
Also, people telling gross jokes or stories - I involuntarily imagine it so it's really annoying. Also disappointed a lot because you expect something and it's less than what you expected. Hope this helps clarify for some of the other types.
Thanks for sharing how you think. I study this stuff and it's been insightful. Have a great day.
As someone with anxiety who is a “word thinker “ say for instance I have a conversation that makes me feel weird . I still feel those feelings like you, but I can literally hear myself in my head like “why would I say that.” Or going into a public area I think like “ that persons looking at me weird do I look funny” etc . I feel like it could be worse for word thinkers because I literally second guess every single thing I do in words .
I wonder if people in deaf communities have thinking close to yours. I have a mixture of words and images myself. Sometimes I will just think in feelings then I will interpret those feelings into words or pictures.
I do have hearing loss, maybe that plays into this. I had never considered that before!
@@royhairstoncomedy8112 no has nothing to do. My hearing is perfect and I don't have inner monologue.
I doubt there is anyone who doesn't think in pictures and feelings. If you think in words that's not the only way you think. It's just one of the ways you think. I'm pretty sure the majority of people think in words, pictures, and feelings. Apparently there are some people that just dont think the words... interesting.
Yeah true. I think we use different methods of thinking for different reasons. I like to figure things out by working out how I would explain it to someone else. It’s like writing a script. As an introvert I guess it’s a safe way of figuring out my emotions without having to talk about them to someone else!
Look up aphantasia it'll blow your mind
As someone who has constant nightmares... Probably 5/7 nights a week (that I notice since they wake me up), I've noticed that eating apples at night/apple juice can help and that anything red (and I love salsa and pasta sauce) can make them so much worse. There's my normal nightmares and then my nightmares on steroids... Idk if it helps but it may be worth a shot. Also sleeping in the wrong temp can change my dreams too... I find it best to be completely physically exhausted... I hope you find relief one day
I think for most people who have a inner voice they read fictional books exactly because those create emotions and pictures in their head but at the same time you can here yourself raeding the book or you change youre tone so its sound like some narrator also youre able to give the characters a certain voice its like youre creating a movie. For me it was fascinating to see the golden compass as a movie I read it as a child and had vivid memories from the book, even if the movie didnt depict what I imagined it was nice to see what kinda story the craetors of the movie made.
I guarantee someone else has told you think but thinking in words is just another accessory to my thoughts, it works in harmony with my other ways of thinking although I mainly only think in thoughts. You may be ableto picture it like this, imagine you had aphantasia, you would still be able to think just not in pictures. But since you don’t have aphantasia, you think in pictures AND ideas and feelings etc.
Thanks for posting and sharing these insights into your thinking processes. I found it very interesting.
All your answers are super helpful. Thank you for being clear and covering exactly how you think. Your explanation on how you read books was really helpful. I have an internal monologue but I also visualize a lot. When I read - I will read the sentences (each word lol) and then create a picture.
Awesome video! Very informative, very well explained and indeed you are very articulate! And as I write this in listening to every word In my head.
And you probably just read half what I wrote! Omg i cant get enough of this its so interesting!
The stuff in the background: my brain creates images like that all the time
I am so glad to hear that! I followed tutorials to make it, but I chose to model my backgrounds off of the kinds of things my mind is doing in the background as I consider these things. The new video is uploading now and has a more technical and retro feel because my mind was feeling more "sharp" whereas on this day it was feeling more fluid.
@@royhairstoncomedy8112 You described your experience really well, thank you for the great video!!!
ok....I don't think in words, I have to silently mouth when I read, I always walk myself through my routine out loud, I work really fast on tests, but I'm still confused
Dude.... I'm extremely creeped out. You and I are extremely, extremely similar. The way you describe the way you process information, not studying and still doing great in school, the sensory overload, how you read, how your thoughts and memories are more abstract and based on feelings, even the cold-reading (I call that empathy nowadays)..... We even are pretty similar physically. How the fuck is this possible??
We are built different. We hear dialogue, see visuals and feel the feels.
People who dont have an inner monologue can still visualize things in their head... they just cant think in their own voice in their head... it's more about monologue... less about object visualization. The lack of object visualization is called aphantasia.
I've said this on other videos about this subject but I'll bring it up here too; I'm not sure what kind of thinker I am. When I'm thinking about responding or lets say an argument, I think in words. Not seeing the words but having them in my head like im speaking them disconnected from actually moving my mouth and speaking in reality. BUT I don't always have words in my head when I think/have thoughts. When I dream, I dream in all sorts of ways. I have visuals and audio cues aside from words that happen in my head. So in essence, I think I have both. But it's never exclusively one thing. Like when i read, i hear the words in my head in my voice but i also picture the visuals and simulated audio of what it would possibly sound like. I don't know how else to explain this.
Yes, I definitely hear the words in my head when I read a book, I also hear these words as I am typing them right now. When I need to do the dishes I literally just think that sentence in my head. I comment on stuff around me all the time in my head like “those shoes are ugly” 😂But when I daydream I can easily just think in pictures and emotions
Thank you for this. I just found out this was even a thing. Your dreaming explanation is spot on. Top dead center. Thank you
As a word thinker, when I pay attention to someone talking, i hear them say the words in their voice, and almost simultaneously echo their words in my own voice in my head.
My inner monologue gets stuck on loop sometimes and I end up sitting there spaced out dying of anxiety, that’s sorta a day dream for me, but like for real it’s usually about a dream I had within that week and that’s the only reason I can create and image but I see it like at 20% opacity over whatever it is I zoned out looking at
This is blowing my mind. I’m going down a strange rabbit hole discovery the different ways people think. A lot of what you describe is so foreign to me. I’ve always heard people think differently but never understood it in this way. I always assumed it to mean people having different ideas and thoughts about things and arriving at different conclusions all while their experiences and mechanisms for thought were similar to my own. I never took it in a literal sense.
When you say "think in words", for most people it means hearing their own voice without moving their mouths. Like you know when you speak, you can hear your own words? When you have an internal monologue, you hear that same exact voice. The inner voice really actually sounds like the voice that your mouth produces.
I think people with internal monologue (myself) can think in words and pictures and feelings.. just because we can think in words doesn't mean that's the only way
I'm a visual thinker but I do have internal monologue, it's not always words...I don't know how to explain it. I was blown away when I heard that some people think in language.
I actually understand you. However, I can go back and forth from thinking in words, to just visualizing their shapes. It’s really neat to be able to shut it off at will, but being a musician, it is hard to get a song out of my head. Sometimes that can actually be intrusive. The crazy thing about it is that I was born totally blind. I can only see shadows and light. I have a very visual brain, though. People always ask me, “How can you see shapes in your mind?” I just tell them that if I even suggested a square block, you’d automatically see it in your mind’s eye. Now imagine that same block with letters on the sides of it. No matter what the letter, you’re thinking of what letters are on the block. That’s how I think. Even in music, chords are shapes. I can literally see a person’s fingers playing a piano when I hear a complex song. I don’t even have to know the song, but I can see the shapes of the chords as they’re being played. So I can relate to some of this.
What does thought sound like? The greatest question ever asked. Wow, our brains are literally just simulators...
Thanks for making this video, it was super interesting. I love that everyone is talking about this stuff now! I've always been really introspective about the nature of thought, and wondering how others' experiences differ, and I could never understand why so many people just didn't really seem interested in the topic when I would try to ask them about it.
I also have visual and emotional components to my thoughts like you describe, it's just that there's a constant inner monologue (or in fact usually multiple layers of verbal thought streams) over the top. It's not so much that I *need* to process things verbally, more that it just happens constantly whether I want it to or not. A lot of the time it's actually just really distracting and not necessarily related to what I'm feeling / visualising / doing in that moment.
Sometimes I will literally verbally think "I need to the dishes" but other times the need to do the dishes will occur to me just like you described, while my verbal thought stream is jabbering on about something completely unrelated. Likewise, when I'm speaking, I don't necessarily verbally plan out what I'm going to say before I say it -- in fact I think when I do it's a hindrance, and I'm more fluent when I'm able to just let my words follow my abstract intentions as you describe -- but again there is always a verbal thought stream going on in my head, whether or not it's actually related to what I want to say. It's impossible for me to 'switch off' the verbal channel - if I try not to verbalise any thoughts, I can't help but 'hear' my inner monologue saying stuff like "Am I doing it? Ah, no, dammit, I just verbally thought 'am I doing it' ! ". I think I'm always also having non-verbal thoughts / feelings, it's just that the verbal channel tends to be the most salient for me.
Do you ever have 'spaces' between thoughts? Someone tried to explain a mindfulness exercise to me as focusing on the spaces between thoughts, and it just made no sense to me as my inner experience is a bunch of constant, overlapping thought streams, not a sequence of discrete 'thought packets' so to speak - so I'm curious if the concept of 'spaces' between thoughts makes sense to anyone else?
Pippa Shoemark Sometimes my mind goes blank and I have no thoughts
This goes on for 30 sec or a minute
I guess that is what I call ‘spaces’ between thoughts
I must add that I cannot control this I don’t choose when my mind goes blank it just happens
@@ninaleninja that's so interesting, I really don't think I've ever experienced that! Thanks for sharing, I'm really appreciating learning about all these different ways in which people's inner experiences vary!
It blows my mind that more people aren't hybrids. Like for me I have super clear visualizations like thinking in images and emotions but then I can squeeze that down into words and an inner monologue so it's just a constant swirl of words, emotions, images, and "video". I feel like we're just discovering tools that all brains have access to and it's just a matter of developing those skills.
Ziggy Gunz I think I’m hybrid. I can visualise and often do which means inner voice is quiet. When required inner voice is used. I can have both but for many things, no inner voice required (and vice versa)
I have an inner monologue but it’s not like I can only think in words. It’s more so that I hear voices (can be my voice, other people’s voices, or voices with accents that I know well enough but it’s not a conscious decision) in addition to feeling and seeing it in my head. It’s not all going all the time. Usually I only need to hear words to process something and don’t need the other senses and vice versa. Like...I scream internally and hear it while also feeling whatever is making me scream. It’ll basically be something that makes me frustrated/scared but not enough to actually physically do it or I can’t for whatever reason.
I’m super jealous of being able to read fast WITHOUT a voice, I find it near impossible
I can choose to think in words, equally well in Norwegian and English, some French, some German. I can also think in programminglanguages like C++,JAVA,JavaScript etc. None of this comes as involuntary 'voices'.
I think i have the opposite of this. I have aphantasia, so i cant see anything with my mind's eye. I think exclusively in words and don't daydream or see any pictures in my mind. I wish i could turn off my inner dialogue sometimes, because my inner dialogue is constantly going. It's so cool to hear that this exists and that not all people think alike.
It's funny how we just kinda assume we all think alike, so we never really discuss these things. I always assumed that when somebody says "imagine an apple" you don't actually see anything and it wasn't until i ended up asking a friends that I realized that i was the "weird" one lol
My thoughts are entirely auditory rather than visual. It’s really hard for me to visualize things in my head
Alex Meyer you might have aphantasia!
So what I find super interesting is, when you read fiction you don’t read the entire sentences, almost like you’re translating the words into pictures and sounds and feelings like a movie. I do the same thing when I’m reading a story but I HAVE an internal monologue. It’s like I tap into some part of my brain that shuts off my monologue and it’s like watching a movie in my head. But if I’m pulled out of that trance like state, the internal monologue starts back up.
Interesting hearing your side and comparing it to my own and seeing that there’s a connection that mirrors each other even with our different ways we interpret the world.
Violet Hour Vision I convert words to images/movie when I read (or movie to words when writing) if I’m into what I’m reading, but I do have the monologue to a degree too. So I hear the word, create the movie, repeat
Looks like we share some common traits. I don't know how you have the courage to be on cam like that, I find it really hard to post any video of me talking to a camera. But thanks for sharing so we can think about the way we think. lol im sure most people never take the time to get to know ones self. Great vid man, keep it up.
Glad to know I'm not alone and thank you for the support!
Do you hear songs in your head? With lyrics? From what I understand really impressive musicians can play their pieces entirely in their head, not sure I could do that but I have a constant (if incomplete 😛) playlist going through my head all day...
What's interesting is that how he reads is how we skim something. I can do the same exact thing but there's no pleasure in it. I wouldn't skim my favorite book but an article I had to read for a class? I'd skim and read the most important information
I think people who do think in words don't realize that we're not 100% of the time thinking in words. We dont always feel emotions saying internally "I feel this". I think people with internal monologue do this obviously far less than those without so it feels impossible to be able to "think" without monologue. Super interesting
I want a video of someone answering my questions about having an internal monologue. Like WTF?! How slow must that be.
I will work on that!
I get that existential dread. Not in my sleep but right before I go to sleep. Mine comes from mistakes I've made in the past, I think. And I guess just feeling trapped and confused. Idk.
10:43 the answer is yes. I can replay a song (not 100 percent accurate...more like 80 to 90 percent with maybe a small detail missing) with conversations i'll hear the friend or family members voice playing in my head. I will replay what they said a few times. Especially if it is from someone of importance. Sometimes a "mental fog" can set in...like when you forget a little bit of what someone told you something years ago. Sometimes your brain can play a mean trick on you and fabricate something that didnt happen at all, even though you'd swear up and down it did. A "false memory" so to speak. Like seeing a scene in a movie where a character goes to a store and buys something and leaves and you think you did it because its such a non chalent thing. Everybody goes to the store...this is a common activity and easy to integrate. Stuph like that. I still remember peoples voices from long ago...i have forgotten others entiely. This will happen.
I mainly think in images (real and abstract). I think in verbalizations when I am going to talk to someone about a subject I talk to them in my head before I meet them. I daydream a lot.
I feel like a do a bunch of these all the time. I think out loud at home all the time, but sometimes revert to thinking in my head with words. I also think in movie style where I’m seeing something play out in my head with dialogue in words. I suppose I occasionally have an immediate thought without dialogue that might involve feeling like he described with doing dishes and just seeing a flash of dirty dishes and the feeling of dread
Hey, just found your channel and you are really comfortable to watch. I relate to most of what you are explaining about your thought posses. The only key differense I can think of (as I am writing this) is that I can think in words. I can hear my voice in my own head, but like you said it's far more efficient to think in symbols and images: that's also why I enjoy the mathematical language of symbols, unlike you. Once again great video. Thanks for posting. Have a lovely day.
I’m curious what empathy is like for you. For me, I hear what happened to someone else and then picture myself in their situation, feel the emotion, and my internal monologue says, “oh that’s so sad, this feels terrible.” Do you just feel the emotion of whatever you think their experience is like?
It's like a short cut or the lazy way. Like we are telepathic with ourselves, we just get it without words. Like when you get an idea at first or remember something. I assume there are no words for the first second. Its always like that for most if not all thoughts.
This was such an interesting video! The bits about ready and math is exactly how I am. In school it made me lag behind a lot. I can think with words though, like I can imagine hearing my voice in my head but everything is very much emotional based the words are just extra.
The human brain is so complex
My classmate has the opposite problem, he can't think in pictures. He's an amazing programmer because he always thinks through things logically, but he can't picture abstractions at all.
I actually don’t know what internal voice sounds like I have memory of how I sound or how someone else’s voice sound but I can hear A voice when thinking or talking to myself
Super interesting, have you ever seen a movie where someone says something and that same character narrates in voiceover? Like if a character asks a girl out nervously and terribly, there’s an awkward pause and the narrator (Who is that characters thoughts) would say “well shi*, there went any chance I’ve ever had.” That’s what an inner monologue is like, you can hear your voice commenting on things. Like in a conversation that’s new, I’m like “ok... going good so far... don’t keep eye contact too long... perfect... oh crap, they’re getting bored... bring it to a more interesting subject... there, cool.” It’s like Everybody Hates Chris, we have a narrator in our head we reflect on things through. I think like some others said, it comes down to how the brain is wired; for some the emotions translate into words, and your inner voice can sound like whoever you want, you could talk like Morgan Freeman if you want lol although it’s a little more energy. But for others you feel the feels and see the thoughts but words aren’t involved unless you’re speaking.
I should say though the voice is distinct, like I hear it for sure, but similar to you picturing things like dishes, it’s not the same as real life. Basically it’s not a hallucination where you could confuse the thoughts with someone speaking in real life. It’s subdued like a thought, just like you would never see a picture of dishes in your head and think it’s real. When I write music, I hear it and can shift ideas around in my head. Once I touch a piano, my concentration tanks because the new sound in real life can cancel out what I had in my head, and I might forget my idea so it’s actually easier for me to write in my head first. So hearing sound in your head is a similar concept that is probably only possible for people with inner dialogue. Once again though, it’s not the same as hearing it “out loud,” you know it’s a dream-like thought construct and would never think “is that in my head or at I actually hearing that?” It’s so subdued that it’s clear enough to mentally “hear” but you KNOW it’s your mind not real life.
Soooo Interesting!
I mostly think in words. However when I'm very excited I think in shapes. It's kinda weird to describe but a shape comes in mind that to me perfectly represents my thoughts but then I have to translate it to words so I can share my thoughts with another human. Also.very rarely I I feels as I think on a format I can't describe. Its not a shape, not a word, it's mostly like a composition of a color and a smell and a feeling.
I totally get that! The shapes thing comes into play a lot in sports or high adrenaline type situations for me.
I can hear my tone of voice, the tempo of my words, the quietness or loudness of my voice. If that helps those who don't have internal dialogue. 😄
Daydreaming can be like just getting lost in thought momentarily. Words, or sound, hold similar weight with regard to senses, i.e. hearing or seeing via the minds eyes. That's how I view it. I was never a daydreamer; however, if I did, it would most comfortably be with just an inner monologue. So, yes we do "daydream" with words.
Edit: I also work on cars, lol random 😅
Dr Gary Weber says it takes from ten thousand to thirty thousand hours of meditation to switch off the Default Mode Network in the brain which is the source of the internal dialogue,/monologue, mind chatter or 'as they say in the East the "monkey mind.'" According to Dr Weber this is a way stage to Awakening or Enlightenment. Having amassed many thousands of hours of meditation over more than fifty years I now have hours of internal stillness and while this is quite delightful I cannot claim that this is contributing to any level of non dual awareness or Awaking. I have aphantasia and I don't hear thoughts which is probably connected to this so I guess I am adding ever educing internal chatter to my attributes or deficits. I have always been pretty good at abstract thinking so I can say that aphantasia is no barrier to this. Many of your attributes correspond to those enjoyed by the Awake (which should not be confused with so called Awoke Culture!) There is much by Dr Weber and on the Default Mode Network and other brain networks on UA-cam.
Considering the way you read books it would be interesting to hear what you think about audio books. Have you ever listened to one? Did you feel like it was a waste of time/too slow? Do you get more into the story because you can't skim it and you have to listen to every detail?
I don’t really think in words I think in a voice like an inner voice. It’s low and it’s exactly like my own voice but very pleasant. My inner voice never stutters but I also think in pictures too. I have OCD and I get intrusive thoughts that can be phrases or pictures of disturbing things. I would call my thinking vocal which makes me highly sensitive to people’s tones and to how people speak to me. Also I do t have any silent moment it’s none stop in my head. I can’t look at a basketball without my inner voice chattering away.
I don't really think in words or images (as this guy seemingly does) most of the time, unless I make a conscious effort to think sentences.
Until a Twitter thread several months ago I thought a literal internal monologue in actual sentences was just a dramatic device used to represent thought in fiction
I hear my thoughts in words but I also share similar traits as you. As far as reading I have to read the whole sentence to understand it.. I find my self reading sentences more than once because sometimes when reading a book I’ll get lost and have to go back two paragraphs to fully know what happened same with watching tv
Omg is this why I watch most of my movies in fast forward woah never guessed it could be linked