To think it's impossible to have no thoughts or internal dialogue?

[IAteAllTheTomatoes]

Is it true that some people have nothing going on in their head? No thoughts, ideas, or internal dialogue?

I'm not being bitchy or talking about intelligence but I just always assumed your brain is thinking or you are silently talking to yourself? Like, will my parcel arrive today? What will I make for dinner later? Something anything? Future plans? Pondering on something in the news etc?

Someone told me yesterday there is nothing in their thoughts, except maybe music, until they are asked a question?

I would love to have no thoughts? It is possible?

I'm explaining this poorly but I suppose what I'm wondering is can people shut down their thinking and if so, how?

@amylou8 This! The only time I can say I have a monologue in my head, is when I'm practicing what to say or write as a response. If I'm having a conversation with someone, there'll be answers/responses popping up in my head. But if I'm, say, at home watching TV, I won't be having a conversation with the characters on the screen. 9 times out of 10 though, there's a song playing in my head, which might have words or might just be a tune.

I recently learnt that some people have no internal monologue and TBF my first thought on hearing that was, 'that explains a lot'.

This is fascinating.

My thoughts are a bit like a backwards echo. It starts as a bit of a woolly concept, more of a sensation, then it gets clearer and louder, I picture the thing, and then words will come, and eventually I will almost say the thought by moving my tongue but without opening my mouth. I’m reasonably intelligent (PhD and published academic book) but I struggled massively with group discussions at uni because by the time the thought has formulated into something I could say, someone else was already speaking. And I have multiple thoughts running at the same time, all echoing and at different stages. The ones which arrive at the words stage I can keep hold of. Some cut off while they’re still woolly and then I can’t remember what I was thinking about.
It means I have an unfortunate habit of starting a conversation in the middle - the first part has rehearsed itself so many times in my brain that I forget I didn’t say it out loud!

There's a lot of layers of thought going on in my head. Music, my voice, conceptual thinking and images. Sometimes they take turns, often they layer over each other. My dreams are like being in a film and if I wake during/ shortly after a mundane, realistic dream it can be hard to disentangle what's real and what was dreamed and get my brain into gear to engage with the day.

I suspect I like reading MN a lot because reading is a focus for my constant chatter. Focused listening can be hard when my internal voice takes over. I self-taught reading as a young child.

I do wonder about ADHD for a multitude of reasons. DS is autistic. He has an internal monologue- I asked him after a previous thread on the theme. When he started at school, he used to worry that the teacher would tell him off for talking in his head after she'd asked for quiet. DS2 has a very busy head like mine too.

Not so sure that works. My introvert DH has little inner monologue and extrovert me had it relentlessly until I learnt to shut it up.

I can now turn it off and just be, some of the time. It’s incredibly calming.

Being able to quiet a busy mind - to close most of the tabs - took me a long time to learn but I’m much better mentally as a result.

@EverythingHurtsAndImHungry I don't think many people would be having a conversation with the characters on a TV show. It would be more like having an internal conversation with myself about whatever is sparked off by the character's dialogue or the theme of the scene. So there might be a word I'm unfamiliar with and I'm thinking about the possible etymology of it, or I might have a memory of a real life situation that has parallels or a connection to the scene. Or I might find the dialogue predictable and be considering how disappointing that is. In all likelihood all of these thoughts and more are happening at once, in my internal conversation with myself. Up until recently I thought that was entirely universal.

Just wondering those of you that don't have words, when you write something down do you have a monologue then? So as I write this, I'm thinking in words and then translating them into the written words. Similarly if writing a shopping list in my head I'll be thinking/ internally saying 'bread' then write bread down.
I think the brain is awesome!

Gah I don't mean don't have words! I mean don't have internal words... see my typing couldn't keep up with my thoughts...

When not busy or occupied I have no noticeable thoughts of feelings. I also have very dull emotions and do not get stressed , worried, anxious etc .
I can spend ages just sitting and relaxing

My brother has Aphantasia, where he can't picture anything in his head. I find it really weird as I'm the opposite and pretty much have a photographic memory! He's also highly intelligent, it's like some parts of his brain are working overtime, and others just don't work at all. If you asked him for example to picture someone buttering a piece of bread, he said he just can't, it's "just black space". So strange.

I always find the idea of internal monologue and whether I have it or not and what it sounds like for most people really fascinating. I imagine we all have completely different experiences of being alive.

I count in my head all the time. Usually in sequences. It’s probably what I’m doing 50% of my waking hours.

Sometimes I narrate things - so I suppose that’s an internal monologue - much like if I was on a podcast or on an audiobook, so I sort of explain the context to the “listener” and the backstory.

I don't talk to myself. I don't think 'shall I have a cup of tea' in words; the concept/idea of having a cup of tea comes into my head.

I agree on this for things that present themselves as a need or a want. If I suddenly feel like a cup of tea, I feel like a cup of tea… or same for going to the loo or deciding to make lunch. I don’t think I have any kind of monologue about this things.

Yeah this is how it works for me. I have an internal voice if I’m say, rehearsing a conversation I need to have with someone, but other than that my thoughts aren’t verbalised in my head, they’re just conceptual.

Hmmmm...having an internal monologue does not make you more strategic or intelligent. I don't have one but I can visually imagine things. My thought processes are visual. So, if I want a mackerel salad for lunch then I don't hear 'ooooo, I fancy a mackerel salad' in my head. I just see an image of the mackerel salad.

I always imagine that an internal monologue slows you down if anything. Planning out everything in words seems inefficient. Words are used to express our internal thoughts to others, it's a way of decoding internal thought. It seems clunky to have the internal want, for instance hunger, and then decode it in your head internally with words by declaring 'I want a salad' and then actually say it out loud.

It's the same with conversation. Apparently some people say things in their head before they say it out loud. That sounds very repetitive and irritating to me.

Super interesting question op. I don’t know if it’s impossible to have no thoughts.

Some people definitely don’t seem to have an internal dialogue but think more in images or concepts.

A big question in linguistics and psychology is about how much thought is tied to language. Can you have thought without language? Part of the difficulty is that, of course, it’s difficult to express your internal experience without language. There was a well known case in Nicaragua where a cohort of Deaf children reached their teenage years without being taught any formal language. After learning ASL (with varying degrees of success) some of them seemed to describe that their thoughts had been extremely limited before they had the scaffold of formal language. But maybe that is just a comparison of ease or speed or communicability?

I have an internal dialogue but it’s not very useful. If I want to think through a problem, find solutions or make a plan I have to do it on paper, or talk out loud, to someone else or myself. If absolutely necessary I can do it in my head silently but it’s intensely effortful. When I was younger I found it less effortful- or was perhaps more willing to spend my energy that way- and could keep tabs on many things at once, internally mark conversation points I wanted to come back to etc.

Just wondering those of you that don't have words, when you write something down do you have a monologue then? So as I write this, I'm thinking in words and then translating them into the written words. Similarly if writing a shopping list in my head I'll be thinking/ internally saying 'bread' then write bread down.
I think the brain is awesome!

Depends how hard I’m thinking about it, if that makes sense. So if I’m drafting an email to my boss that needs to sound professional, I’ll often “say” it in my head to see if it sounds right, but if it’s something simple I just write it as the conceptual thought occurs in my head.

@Curseofthenation it's not like planning out what you think in words, it's that the words are there immediately without any effort or planning. They immediately crystallise the internal thoughts, and then I would engage in internal discussion about that thought process amongst all the other strands of my continual internal conversation.

I don't have very many thoughts. Constant internal monologue is a sign of poor mental health for me.
Sometimes I have something I want to think about and I think about it or a situation might spark a funny thought but most of the time I'm just experiencing things.

I don't have an internal monologue or any thoughts going on constantly. My brain is quiet. I'm neurotypical and educated to masters level.

I've discussed this with friends before and the ones that said their heads were always full of noise were all neurodiverse. It must be exhausting.

@RoseslnTheHospital I understand what you're saying but can you see that visually imagining something and then being able to verbalise it off the cuff could be more efficient? It takes longer to think it all out in words, even if it is instant.

I'm much the same as you.

You make an interesting point actually as all my friends who say they have a monologue all have mental health issues.

I went on a study skills course when I was about 16; a good lot of it was about learning faster reading skills. It was predicted around the 'fact' (true for many/most) that when people read, they hear or even say the words they're reading in their mind, which slows down their reading to closer to speaking speed (though not at actual speaking speed). And that you could 'train' yourself out of it with certain techniques.

It turned out that one of the reasons I could naturally read so quickly is that I didn't experience that at all; when I read I process it directly; the word on the page goes into my head as a concept; I don't hear it (and equally I don't 'see' visually what's happening in the book.)

It's a great advantage in studying and in work that is based on assimilating big chunks of text. I struggle more with listening-based learning as I have to work a lot harder at concentrating and getting my mind into a gear where it's taking in the information in that format and at that speed; I far prefer to get information in writing.

My thoughts are worded exactly as I would say them out loud - sometimes full sentences, questions or just odd words, but even with the tone / accent / pauses I’d use in speech. Never thought about it until this thread! Just thought everyone’s brain mirrored everyone’s speech!

I’m one of those people who genuinely when sitting quietly just doesn’t have any thoughts swirling round my head. It’s like a big empty bucket.

When I was at school the English teacher (when she clearly wanted 5 minutes of quiet time) would hand out a sheet of A4 paper to everyone, set a timer for 5minutes and tell us to “write down whatever is going on in your head, any worries, plans, dreams. You can come up and shred the paper afterwards ….. go”.

I’d look around and see my class mates furiously writing and filling one side of paper, then the other - some would even ask for more. I’d just be staring at my blank sheet of A4 with absolutely zero narrative in my head.

Absolutely hated those lessons.

I think I am similar. I don't think in full sentences. I want things, mull over things and plan conversations (or replay them...ick) but I don't have a voice in my head going in full sentences.

I am of reasonable intelligence (degree from top 5 uni, good job etc etc) and am often told I'm a good strategic thinker so I don't think there is necessarily a correlation there, it's just another way of functioning.

Yes also an almost constant dialogue. I find music quiets it a little so I like some background music often :)