How can I tell if I have an internal monologue?

[Barrol]

I learned recently from my teen that ~ 30 to 50% of people don't have an “inner voice.”

I’m sure I do. As I type I hear my voice in my head. But am I just assuming I can? I’m confused. So maybe I am in the minority of people who don’t have an inner monologue. When I read I say it a loud in my head I think.

Please can anyone familiar with this topic elaborate.

I was very confused when I learnt that some people DO hear their voice in their head. Still find it a bit hard to believe really.

I asked my DH and he said he doesn’t hear his voice but he hears his thoughts, it’s so confusing. Even as I’m typing this out I can hear my voice saying it in my head

Yeah, I don't hear anything - what you hear or whatever it is your DH hears (I'm confused too). So you can't think faster than you can speak? Sounds potentially lethal in an emergency situation. I mean, if (for example) your DC was about to run off a cliff edge, you wouldn't wait until you'd had time to speak / hear the words "Oh my God, that could kill him, I need to run as fast as I possibly can and stop him" before you started moving, right? You think about what the problem is and what's to be done in a split second.

If you had one you would know as it's chattering away at you, offering commentary on what you're doing, telling you what you need to do, replaying things, acting out conversations etc.

I think I must be the same. Ever since I was little (younger than 5) I have 'seen' letters, words and lists in my head. Always a standard sort of appearance - like in a printed book or newspaper - what I later learned to call a 'serif font' - just like what computers users call Times New Roman. I can't imagine what an interior monologue would be like.

Surely no-one thinks that slowly? Don't we think abstractly and convert that into words afterwards? Doesn't everyone do that? If not it must be a real nuisance.

I have a inner monologue but I can't see pictures in my head.

One thing that used to really piss me off was people (mostly women) saying stuff like 'I thought Ooh, I'll get some vegetables on the way home'. That initial 'Oooh!'. Nowadays it's often just 'oh' at the start, at least on here. Is that th4e internal monologue? Oh! Hey!. I think it would drive me round the bend.

This thread seems to illustrate that no, not everyone does do that. I first heard this as an adult and was amazed, and still struggle to understand it. Someone I knew was talking about people who have been deaf from birth and wondered out loud how they can think "when they've never heard a word spoken". And I said, "You think in. . . words?". And she said, "You. . . don't?". Then a bit later someone was asking a bilingual person which language they thought in and it led to the same weird conversation. Mind blown. I know - how do they get through the day?

I used to have a boyfriend I met in France. We spoke together in French. I can still remember that when we said goodbye in the morning my inner monlogue was running in French and I remember on the walk to work it flipped back to English around the same point each day about half way up a large hill.

Because there's thoughts that are lightning fast, and the conversation after.

DS was dicking about and nearly went into the road. I reached out and grabbed him. Then whilst I'm picking him up and doing all the external stuff my head is going "Fuck fuck fuck. Bloody kids. Jesus I can't believe I nearly left that happen. Imagine if he'd gone under a car. Oh god imagine having to grow up as a twin when you'd watched your twin die. How damaged would my kids be seeing I let that happen?" and other thoughts about his death.

Drink a hot drink, spit it out cos it burns. Internal voice "bloody hell, idiot, oh gosh I hope no one saw me spit that out, did I spit it back in my coffee?" etc.

Actions can be instinctive without needing thoughts but then my brain talks about it

I was thinking about this as I loaded the dishwasher earlier. Obviously I wasn't talking to myself saying, "pick that fork up and put it there...". Though I must have been thinking in order to make those kinds of choices.

However as soon as I began to reflect on what I was doing those thoughts of me thinking about what I was thinking about (metacognition?) were in English. As I am not actually speaking this can be much faster than speech.

I wonder if we are all doing a similar thing and we just interpret it differently.

Yes that’s it, it’s just your own thoughts.

It’s hard to quantify what internal dialogue is and in the same my child once said to me “How do we all know that the colour pink is what everyone assumes is the colour pink?”

My initial response was that if someone asked what colour is pink to 10 people and they all pointed at pink then it’s obvious that’s the pink colour… she said no, that’s perhaps the same colour you all see but that could be your green or yellow but it’s their pink etc… and I thought that’s very thought provoking and true!

I don’t believe so many people don’t have an internal dialogue/monologue, It’s simply your own thoughts, well that’s my perception of it and why I don’t ‘believe’ people who say they don’t have one. I just think their understanding of what it is is different to mine.

This is really interesting @somewhatmiffed. Do you mean you see words (as in text) in your head as if you are reading? Or is it like a blank screen? I hear an internal monologue and see pictures, e.g. said goodbye to my daughter before I got the early train and can still see her clearly in my head, e.g. could describe her pyjamas and the position she was lying in etc. Other people's brain workings are honestly fascinating.

@Philandbill it sounds depressing but it's just darkness. If I think about something familiar like my son I get a sense of him but not an image. I was pretty old before I realised this isn't the norm.

I also really struggle to remember people I've met. Even extended family/neighbours and especially acquaintances. I'm usually fine if I see them where I expect to ie school playground but not else where. I've learnt to stick to neutral questions until I figure out who it is! I think because I don't see faces in my head they maybe are harder to recall? Also terrible at remembering routes when driving it can take months /years for a familiar route to stay in my head.
I'm also autistic don't know if it's connected.

@somewhatmiffed thank you for replying. It's a really interesting explanation and I can see from your explanation how remembering names and routes is linked to this and is very hard. The brain really is a fascinating thing and it's also fascinating that we don't realise how others think / "see" / "hear" until it's explained to us. I have learnt a lot from this thread.

@Philandbill I think it's called aphantasia.

I have similar. So I have really vivid dreams like a film. But if I close my eyes and try to imagine something, it's just black.

However, I can have a better type of imagination if I do it with my eyes open. But I still don't get an image in my head it's more like I remember what xy z looks like but can't visilualise it. Really hard to explain.

For those people who say they don't have an inner monologue, can you tell me what happens when you are alone? Or are you never alone in a quiet place? That idea is pretty terrifying to me - I'm imagining you all living in constantly manic households with crazy children, loud televisions and people calling in all the time.

If you do have quiet time - imagine you're doing the ironing with no tv on in the background - what do you think about? Your mind can't just go blank.

And if your mind actually does just go blank when you are alone, can you tell me what job you do? I can't imagine people with no inner monologue ate capable of holding down a job beyond check out operator.

So to the OP, no, having an inner monologue is not a sign of a MH issue. It's a sign you are conscious and have an IQ above 75.

The MH issues come in when you don't control your inner monologue - through reading, learning, doing things for others, eating well, exercising, testing your limits and pushing your boundaries.

I don't think I have an internal monologue, or if I do it's very muted. I always thought the phrase 'Listen to the little voice inside your head' was metaphorical!

I don't hear words when I read, just sort of absorb them. I started reading at a very young age. Quite honestly I don't remember learning how to read. It just feels like a skill that's always been there, although I know that's impossible. Trying to teach my daughter phonics during lockdown was really counterintuitive to me, as it felt so slow. It blows my mind that some people hear accents when reading.

I can practise conversations in my head, but it's not my default way of thinking. I do get ear worms though. They're maddening enough, so the thought of having a constant voice is a little horrifying!

I have an internal monologue but i don't have a minds eye , I know what things look like but I can't create pictures in my head , when I close my eyes it's dark and I can't conjure pictures like my partner can .
I do have amazing dreams though full stories with real places and people .
I guess that just as we're different on the outside we're very different on the inside too .

In my quiet moments, I usually end up doing something with my hands like gardening, cooking, or a puzzle. Or I might just daydream a bit or go for a walk. Reading these responses, my mind probably is pretty 'blank' when I do these things compared to someone with an inner monologue. That's just my default.

The presence or absence of an inner monologue is not an indicator of capability or intelligence. We just all work differently. I work in a skilled role, predominantly with numbers, but writing and specifically communicating those numbers into plain English is a big part of it as well. If I'm at my job, I'm doing my work, not just sitting there staring into space...

The inner monologue in humans is called 'thinking'. I think some of you are conflating thinking with an internal conversation which is more akin to schizophrenia. Those who say they have no internal monologue need to clarify that they can 'think'. Ie comprehend and consider ideas to form conclusions and formulate solutions internally.

@almondflake minds eye! That's what it's called! Thank you!
I am just as you have described yourself.

I remember getting into trouble at peimary school when we had to do one of those close your eyes and imagine you are on a beach exercise. Like a calming technique. I told the teacher I couldn't see anything and got told off for lieing! So when asked used to just make things up in the end!

@Adviceneeeeded I know what you mean , I was always told to count sheep when I couldn't sleep , I could never see the bloody things so used to count in my head .
My daughter and partner can see things and think it's freaky that I can't , I can imagine things but I can't see them . 😁

Hang on. I've never thought of this. People actually SEE the sheep?