I think the difference is I don’t hear a voice sounding things out, as some people are describing. And I didn’t know other people did have this monologue. I am having the thoughts - e.g. what will I say in an interview or I need to put the bins out, but it isn’t being articulated in words as though I’m listening to someone/myself saying “It’s bin night, put the bins out.”
And when reading or typing I don’t hear the individual words. I can choose to do this if I want to ( if something is hard to understand or express) but mainly the words are all flowing together to form an impression.
But at the same time, I’m not skim reading or filtering things out in a text, like someone mentioned upthread - I’m really aware of word choices and writing styles. Words really resonate and stick with me. I love poetry and I have loads of pieces of writing in my memory. But I’m not hearing a voice reading in my head (unless I choose to) - which I think is what some people seem to be describing experiencing when they’re reading or writing.
If I was sat in an empty white room I would be sat in silence but would most likely be thinking about lots of things but there wouldn’t be a voice talking to me or narrating those thoughts. And I can zone out if I want to.
And, yes @Adatewithmyself I would see a calendar unfolding in my mind if I thought about next month or Thursday or last year!
I also have mild synethesia around letters having certain colours.
So I think I must be a very visual thinker. But also reading and writing are very important to me too and are a big part of my job and also what I choose to do in my spare time.
This has been such an interesting discussion. I’ve loved reading everyone’s experiences and how we are all trying to describe how our brains are working and processing things. And it’s all quite hard to articulate too!