Not Everyone Conducts Inner Speech

so is talking to ourselves actually normal? It could be seen as a habbit that needs to be broken in some respects. Most of us would probably talk to ourselves in our heads and not out loud but if we are blind why do we talk to ourselves out loud? though not everybody does talk to themselves out loud and frequently. Either i am the only person who babbles to himself all the time or it has been a common thing

I don't have conversations with "myself", but but I do have conversations with imaginary people. For instance, when I read through this post I frequently looked away from the computer screen and imagined myself talking to another person about what I had just read. This how thoughts run through my head, in addition to running imaginary "movies" through my head(sequences of blurry images). Does this count as talking to myself?

I experience inner speech almost constantly, but as above, I never talk TO myself, I talk to an imaginary audience (a jury of sorts), or an imaginary friend, or a specific real friend (but in an imaginary conversation - I may never actually have the conversation with the real friend), depending on the topic.

Does anone actually talk TO themselves, or hear a voice talking TO them? Not me. It is more like I have a running commentary on life going on, and in difficult situations or times of difficult decisions, I explain, argue, defend, discuss them with an imaginary interlocutor.

Sometimes though it is just through images that I think first, then look for words to describe the inner movie I am seeing, and sometimes the words are inadequate.

I imagine this varies. People who lead more intellectual lives based on lots of reading, discussing ideas, debating, probably also have inner lives that are very verbal. People whose lives are more based on mundane, practical, physical concerns, probably think more with images and feelings, or even physical sensations. I find that easy to conceive of.

Then if some people do not have inner speech nor inner images, how do their brain work?

I am always having either inner speech or inner images no matter what I am doing from playing the piano to kissing my girlfriend, maybe the only time I don't is when I make calculations; I see numbers but then again those could be considered inner images or a kind of inner speech...

what is in the head of people who don't have neither inner speech nor inner images?

Our recent results show that expanded inner speech is slightly faster (0.6 secs) than outer speech. 16 of 20 participants followed this group finding. We now hypothesize that when outer speech is slower, it is because of the time taken to move the vocal tract structures.

We also speculate that the rate expanded inner speech is the same as the rate of verbal thought.

Two caveats need to be addressed in future research: (1) type of inner speech used; expanded vs. condensed (after Fernyhough, 2004), and (2) type of speech task used (recitation vs. "thought driven").
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Fernyhough, C. (2004). Alien voices and inner dialogue: towards a developmental account of auditory verbal hallucinations. New Ideas in Psychology, 22, 49-68.

I believe that most of the time it is helpful to me. My inner speech helps me organize what I do during the day. I live alone and spend almost the entire day alone. I am a writer and my inner speech helps me write and plan out each sentence as I write it. I believe this is one reason why I never have writer's block. I also am never bored and have no reason to own a TV nor do recreational drugs nor drink alcohol for a "high." The voice isn't another person, nor entity inside me. It's me. My parents told me that when I was a child I had imaginary playmates and a rather active and enjoyable playtime with them. I was their first. God bless my mom and dad who so wisely never interfered, and allowed me to enjoy my imagination as much as I needed to. I never questioned whether anyone else had inner speech until just now when I Googled it, nor knew the words for it. I am 58. I am wondering if having active inner speech might account for the fact that I seem to have a rather detailed and accurate memory of exact wording of conversations I've had in the past. I also recall precise emotional impressions of various scenes, and other details that most people tend to forget. I highly doubt my memory is "photographic" even though some people have told me it is.

My dear Russell, inner speech does occur in every single human being and normally is negative inner speech, but when they are aware they're doing it, they can discipline their mind and turn it into positive inner speech which it is a powerful tool to attract all the goodness that life offers. Yes, just by controlling their inner speech. I don't mean to be disrespectful, but the studies you took on the subject are anything but scientific. Inner speech and mind are two gift that God gave to human being and that is what distinguishes us from the lower animals. The fact that the interviewed students said they didn't do inner talks is only because they are not aware of it. Very rare individuals have such a control of their minds that they might be able to silence their mind but a university student would not in a million years be able to possess such a control of his mind.
I just couldn't believe you are so confident in mentioning such a large percentage of individuals not doing inner speech and believing them. Baars and McWhorter seem to have a better understanding of the human mind. Mmmm, it makes me wonder about the content of the rest of your blogs.

My son has inner speech from the time he wakes up till he goes to bed. This happened over a year ago after his psychiatrist started mixing meds. He also has to keep moving. He has a reaction to most antipsychotics and many he was on he should not of been because of this. I requested a gene drug metabolizer test after his reaction and he should of been on the lowest dose or another medication. He has a lot of stress and he is dealing with trauma from a car accident, he talk's about this and other stressful things that happened in his life all the time. He also talks about things I do not know if there true. The doctors said he is schizoaffective and just prescribe antipsychotics. Every antipsychotic medication makes him more hyper and he can not sit still and would be walking around the streets till 3am. He also blacked out from a snow mobile accident before all this happened. He had a MRI, he did not want the one with contrast, the Mri showed normal. This all started when he came home from living in another state and then went to see friends in another town for the weekend. A few days later he came home psychotic he was 30 yrs old at he time, I know he was drinking heavy and not sure of drugs. He was stable after being on 1 medication after a year and moved. He went out drinking heavy and not taking the medication and had a break. That is when the doctor started giving 2 antipsychotics and a mood stabilizer, and that started the talking. He ended up in the hospital for over a month and came out worse after they started more antipsychotics. This is when he would be up for almost 24 hrs, walking around. I tried to bring him to a therapist but with him talking to himself and being so involved they can't help. He is off all antipsychotics for about 3 months, he slowed down some (not staying up all night walking) but is still talking all the time and still walking because he needs to be moving. Can someone share there thoughts if they know what can help him. Thanks

I started wondering about this a few years ago and actually started interviewing my friends and people around me trying to find out "the shape of their thoughts."

I do not have an inner monologue/ voice, unless I consciously "speak to myself" or spell out words or something similar. At one point I also noticed that I usually do not have to consciously analyze something (either that or I am not consciously aware of when I do so) and that the complete analysis/ my opinion as to a concept's accuracy or viability/ and other in-depth considerations of a given concept seems to spring from my subconscious, wholly formed, and made available to my conscious thoughts from some part of my mind I am not aware of.

The above, along with the difficulty I sometimes have in converting my nebulous thoughts into speech that can be effectively communicated to others, led me to wonder if perhaps I "thought" differently than other people and "the shape" that other people's thoughts take. For example, at times when I am attempting to convey a story or a concept to one or more people I will often get off-track explaining an underlying concept or back-story that is necessary to understand the context of my original point/ story.

Upon conducting my interviews and questions I did not get many satisfying answers, with most people not understanding what I was trying to ask them and others responding with wispy answers such as "the shape of my thoughts is blue."

There are almost always words inside my head.

In fact, I've asked people I live with to not turn on the radio in the morning. When they asked why, they thought my answer was weird: because it's louder than the voice in my head and I can't perform my morning routine without that voice.

Or I'm doing 'nothing' in a room and someone turns one the tv, I get up and go. But how does this disturb me? Well, the voice in my head might be analyzing options for a vacation or a trying to resolve a problem for work or just making my grocery list... TV just gets in the way of my normal functions.

I went to a store to buy a printer once and left because the music was louder than the voice in my head. I couldn't hear my own inside voice commenting on prices and features so I could not decide which printer to buy. I couldn't see the numbers when trying to compare the price of the printer itself with the price of cartridge. Without being able to hear the voice, I couldn't do math. I went to another nearby store and bought the printer there.

Same for choosing a movie. I went to a video store once and someone had decided to show their kid who ran the show: we're not leaving until you stop crying... Well, 15 minute later the kid was still crying (or more like screaming at the top of his lungs) and I gave up and left. I couldn't choose a movie with the screaming being louder than my decision making process, I could barely read the labels.

When I drive in the city and I need to concentrate on the road and on finding a parking spot at the same time, I have to turn off the radio, even if it's music. Same if there is a snow storm or other bad weather conditions. There are things I won't see without the voice, they won't register as empty parking spot or danger unless the voice can imprint them. The voice is necessary both to keep my attention on something and for short term memory.

I had depression once... It lasted for over a year. I went to see a psychologist who insisted that I talk about my negative thought patterns... I couldn't, nothing was going on and to me that was the problem. Without the voice, I was a zombie. When I got up to go to the shower in the morning, the effort was such that my eyes cried... so what was I thinking about that was so sad? Nothing. Total silence.

Introspection is a skill that takes a long time to master. Most people do it casually and rarely know what is happening. Inner speech is being aware of one's information processing or thinking. If one is not aware of their thinking it can mean they simply can not report on their own conscious or all their thoughts are unconsciousness. It is easy to tell the difference. All you have to do is ask the person to describe the sensations that they have when they do a simple task like getting into a bathtub or cooking an egg. If they cannot describe their sensations they are not self aware. Inner speech can be visual when you look at face and see a face from your memory and compare the two. Thinking can be purely abstract. People do not speak words in their head all the time but they think they do because they only remember the words. When you move your arm must you say “I am moving my arm?” That is just silly. People know how to move their arm or their body and that movement starts with a thought. But those thoughts are not words. When people drive and control the movement of their car most of their thoughts are kinesthetic. The same thing is true of airline pilots. There is a program to teach airline pilots to say what they are going to do before they do it so they can avoid accidents. If they do not say it they can’t reflect on it because it is almost impossible to reflect on kinesthetic thoughts. Verbal thoughts allow is to question what we do because we know how to question what we say and so do others.

I found the comments more illuminating than the article. Einstein claimed he had very few verbal thoughts and used words as he used numbers - mainly to communicate his perceptions to others. I have lots of verbal thoughts, both addressed to myself and to various inner “test audiences.” I also have non-verbal thoughts; images, music, and impulses. I also have moments of “focused perception” where my thoughts are there but my consciousness is focused on the totality of my being and experience rather than invested in my thoughts. This seems to me a “higher” state which occurs in natural outdoor settings, during meditation, or during exercise or drug experiences.

I question the term “pristine” consciousness. What consciousness is not pristine?

I agree completely. With those higher states I would add “realisation.” Most of the work on many different problems is done in the part of the brain or the mind that is not in the conscious. Chess professionals say the highest rated players in certain positions do not have to calculate they see the correct move. It is my contention that the top players actually do calculate the moves but they aren't aware of their calculations. The calculations are done unconsciously and the mind sends the correct move to the consciousness. Short time time controls force players to avoid conscious calculations and speed up the game. Making calculations conscious slows up the process just like showing all the calculations that a computer does on a screen. However conscious calculation makes error correction easier.

Consciousness is pristine by its very nature. If you think of consciousness as a chalkboard and the sensations in it are like chalk marks then sometimes the chalkboard needs washing. That is why people meditate but the consciousness itself is always clean.

Am I right in assuming that if you hear someone speak that must mean that the speech is presented to your consciousness. Do you agree that if you know what speech means when you are conscious of it, that means you are thinking in speech, even if you do not generate it? Are people who claim they do not think in words aware of practicing what they are going to say before they say it?

It positively amazes me that a mental health professional would consider any size group self reporting on their experience to be conclusive. But a 30 person sample group consisting solely of college kids? That's pretty lax science.

And, in point of fact, you even state clearly that most of us have no earthly idea what's going on in our minds.

The reality is fairly simple: different people have different primary methods of interpreting the world around them. The visually cued individual may very well experience visual inner speech. Those such as you and I are more verbally cued, and could expect verbal inner speech. A person who was deaf at birth would certainly be more likely to experience visual inner speech. Do you see where this is going? It could be music, colors, sounds, whatever. It's happening all the time, in every human being. Even, as you mentioned, while we're unconscious. Especially then.

Because what self-dialogue actually is, seems to be an amalgamation of every single process that happens in the mind. Both conscious and unconscious.

the methodology I've used to reach that conclusion is every bit as valid as your 30 person study.

There is only one thought in my head, and that is #MAGA

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John McWhorter sounds exceptionally mentally inflexible. Has he never met someone who can speak a language but not read it? This is common among the children of immigrants, for example.

When my friend utters the Cantonese word for a dog, he does NOT see an image of its written version. He doesn't know it!

"Imagine saying 'dog' and only thinking of a canine, but not thinking of the written word," says McWhorter. Sure! I'm imaging it now. It's called skilled reading. McWhorter sounds like the kind of person who has to sound out S-T-O-P at an intersection instead of just understanding immediately what that visual signal means.

Hi, like a lot of other people here I find myself talking to myself all the time. Often times I find myself talking to my body parts, however. In my head, I call my right foot Joe and my left foot Lefty (I know creative right) I also call my arms Mike and Clancy. I think of my stomach as Rupert and call my penis Jacky. There are many more named parts as well. Every time I do some sort of action I, or the other person in my head, always refer to my body parts by name. I figured that everyone does this so I was never really worried. When my mother died, she lost her arms and legs from diabetes and chronological dystopia. At the age of about nine years old, I started doing this thing with my body. I would always eat and think to myself, "Rupert its time to eat" and I still do that to this day. Whenever I have to use the restroom I say to myself, "Jacky's getting pissy". I recently got diagnosed with chronic obesity and my doctor says that if I quit smoking it will help. Anyways, this is my experience and I'm sure it normal so feel free to respond and Gregory and I will be there to answer!

A colleague recently showed me this article and I just finished reading the text and comments and wanted to add my experience in for good measure. I had never even heard of this idea, or considered that people don't have an inner experience like mine until today, so maybe this can be helpful.

First off I would like to say I'm not a psychologist nor am I I'm any way related to the field, I'm an engineer. Take that for what it's worth. I have also never used any kind of illicit drugs, and rarely drink, for whatever that's worth eliminating potential external influences.

I can say with confidence that I'm quite aware of my inner dialog, and exercise decent control over it, but I do not experience this dialog constantly, as some have mentioned. I will sometimes speak to myself internally when working on a problem, or doing certain tasks, but I'm definitely not constantly talking to myself in my own head, non-stop. There are definite periods of no "dialog" which can can vary in length from a few minutes to a few hours, and I have always thought of it as my "robot mode", where I kind of zone out of external stimuli and focus on the task at hand. It sometimes results in me not eating or drinking for an entire day as I'm totally switched off to external stimuli. It can sometimes about co-workers, as I may not even hear people talking to me. Doesn't even register.

Some have mentioned that this is something like this bring similar to a "runners high" or being "in the zone" and I agree somewhat, but having experienced being "in the zone" in a different context makes me believe these are not the same state. Where I have experienced being truly "in the zone" before was while practicing martial arts. I have been fortunate enough on a few occasions to experience this, and in these states as opposed to a total calming of the mind, in my experience instead things suddenly seem crystal clear, time seems to slow down, and I become hyper aware of my surroundings, and begin seeing different scenarios playing out on front of me, almost like watching a video in fast forward.

This leads me to my final point: despite what has been asserted by others in the comments and by the comment from McWhorter, I can say with confidence the only time words flash through my mind Sesame Street style is when watching Sesame Street. When speaking, describing things, listening, or reading, what goes on in my mind is more akin to short movie clips relating to what I'm experiencing. When I listen, I picture in my head things being described to me, and if I have no image I may require repetition until I can come up with an image that suits the situation. I can sometimes imagine nothing for a picture, but even then I don't substitute with visual words or glyphs. Instead I may have a feeling, a sound, or a smell. For example when someone describes cooking, I think of a cast iron skillet, and bubbling butter. If someone describes something as steel, I see an I-beam of immense size, and feeling the cold metal. If something is described as large I think of Andre the giant in The Princess Bride, and something hot is an metal bar glowing orange sitting atop an anvil. Even when I think of math (even the one instance I dreamt in math) I visualize the concept. Quantities often mean little to nothing to me, but I can imagine the results of the equation as little movies. I see heat transfer as lots of little shapes pushing past one another, or like stylized streams of air moving from place to place getting bigger or smaller.

I always just assumed this is what was meant when people said "visual learner" and left it as that. I never realized there was so much contention around how people thought inside their own heads... I will be continuing to research this as I find it fascinating, and hope that these comments of mine are interesting to somebody else.

Inner Self-Talk: I was a super-inner-talker. It was Detrimental to my musical study due to self-criticism. Controlled finally by Wellbutrin! ALL THE TALK TURNED OFF. A friend had the identical problem and the identical solution through Wellbutrin. Work became easier, social anxiety vanished, piano became easy. I can and still do talk out my problems outloud when I’m alone, sort of like a lawyer making a case in a courtroom, making sure that what I’m thinking or doing, or what others are doing, is understood, right, wrong, etc. However, this inner self talk rolled into social anxiety as I thought too much about what others might be thinking, constantly. THANK YOU, WELLBUTRIN!!!

Inner hearing: Excellent. I can audiate in perfect pitch, not on the level of Mozart who was a super-inner-hearer. Has not been impacted by Wellbutrin. However, the vanishing of the “inner monitor”- to coin a concept from the field of linguistics- has made my singing more on pitch....less lag time because I’m not monitoring so much. Also, I read outloud and to myself with higher speed and fluency, and my Spanish is more fluent. All attributed to the silencing of the inner monitor. THANK YOU WELLBUTRIN.

Inner sight- I guess I’m average at this. I bet artists are super at it.

Inner feelings- High, except now not in control of me, I’m in control of them. THANK YOU WELLBUTRIN!

The 5th one- empathy perhaps? I’m a super empathized. Now I’m in control of it though instead of the other way around. THANK YOU WELLBUTRIN.

Please, please do your clients a favor who deal with anxiety and rumination and self-talk issues and give them WELLBUTRIN!!!! It is a wonder medicine. I’m forever grateful for it.