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Not everyone has an internal monologue

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Re: Not everyone has an internal monologue

#591

Post by mwcampbell »

Wowfunhappy wrote: post #26

Something I discovered within the past year is that if I know a song fairly well, I can "play it" silently in my head, and be entertained. The experience isn't quite as emotionally resonate as listening with headphones, but it's not so far off either. It's useful when I'm bored. ...can anyone else do this? I actually find it supremely weird.

I find that if I'm in a noisy environment, like a moving car, if I think hard about a song, it feels like I can faintly hear it. I guess it's a side effect of the brain trying to find a recognizable pattern in the noise. I used to especially appreciate this in the days before it was easy to actually hear any song on demand, when I would have had to either buy the album or record the song off the radio.

Re: Not everyone has an internal monologue

#593

Post by astee »

Wowfunhappy wrote: post #26

Something I discovered within the past year is that if I know a song fairly well, I can "play it" silently in my head, and be entertained. The experience isn't quite as emotionally resonate as listening with headphones, but it's not so far off either. It's useful when I'm bored. ...can anyone else do this? I actually find it supremely weird.

This is the norm for me. If I am awake, I almost always have music playing in my head, from pop songs to classical to little nondescript melodies. Sometimes this can be quite annoying.

Re: Not everyone has an internal monologue

#594

Post by AlexCoventry »

LordFast wrote: post #225
pazimzadeh wrote: post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I used to be like that, and it was helpful in many ways as I seemed to always be ready for wherever a conversation might go. But I wasn't living in the moment. Now I actively stop myself from simulating the various branches of potential conversations. It feels good to live in the moment (shaking my head a little when I feel it starting helps). The downside is that I don't have as many prepared responses and am more e…

Why is it a bad thing for your brain to be running DFS all the time? Is it a wasteful use of time? Does it cause behavioral issues? Is it a personal choice? Or...?

What's DFS?

When I look closely at those sorts of imagined conversations, I almost always conclude that my attention has been misdirected by delusional egotism. I also find that letting them run tends to entrench the delusions, which I am better off without.

Re: Not everyone has an internal monologue

#595

Post by ktm5j »

mayoff wrote: post #192

What Do You Care What Other People Think? , a book of Richard Feynman stories, has a chapter that ties into this. You can read the chapter here: http://calteches.library.caltech.edu/607/2/Feynman.pdf He discovers that he can read while counting in his head at a steady rate, but he cannot talk while counting. When he tells his friends, one of them claims to be the opposite, and indeed proves that he can count while ta…

I just picked up a used copy of this book, great read!

Re: Not everyone has an internal monologue

#596

Post by [deleted] »

lqet wrote: post #314

I have a serious question to people here describing themselves (as I understand it) as thinking in words and whole sentences: How can you think about concepts which cannot be put into words or for which no words exist? Do you have to come up with elaborate verbal descriptions of abstract concepts in your head before you can think about them? If so, don't you think that any verbal description is essentially incomplete…

[deleted]

Re: Not everyone has an internal monologue

#597

Post by queryly »

People with internal monologue basically think in language. They are often very articulate. Jordan Peterson said he thinks in words, and he talk very fast.

I think in abstract and concrete imagery, and only found out recently that other people think in words.

I think thinking abstractly hinders my verbal skill as there is a translation layer from idea to words.

It's indeed mind blowing when you first realize how other thinks.

Re: Not everyone has an internal monologue

#598

Post by mannykannot »

abathur wrote: post #319

This topic (comments here, the OP, and comments in threads elsewhere) exposes some conflicting definitions of what an "internal monologue" is or means. - Some people describe hearing their internal monologue, which I take to mean something like: they have an internal monologue, and it manifests as a voice that only they hear. These people are analogous to those who see things they picture in their mind's eye . - Some…

FWIW it does not seem like any of the above for me. It is more like I am rehearsing what I would say if I chose to do so. That does not come across as a voice to me.

Re: Not everyone has an internal monologue

#599

Post by lostcolony »

AlexCoventry wrote: post #594
LordFast wrote: post #225

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why is it a bad thing for your brain to be running DFS all the time? Is it a wasteful use of time? Does it cause behavioral issues? Is it a personal choice? Or...?

What's DFS? When I look closely at those sorts of imagined conversations, I almost always conclude that my attention has been misdirected by delusional egotism. I also find that letting them run tends to entrench the delusions, which I am better off without.

Depth first search. Basically he's saying you're playing out each conversation to the end, then backing up to the last branch point and chasing it to the end, repeat until you've exhausted every possibility you can think of

Re: Not everyone has an internal monologue

#600

Post by 0x5345414e »

mancerayder wrote: post #291

I have an endless internal dialogue, and I let it externalize to the point of practicing what I'm going to say out loud. Sometimes it helps me be more articulate, practice jokes, or even technical explanations. Other times it helps reason logically. Sometimes it's not helpful at all. I have no idea how healthy it is but it's only when I'm alone.

I talk to myself aloud a lot as well. I almost never have any dialog entirely in my mind. I am so used to talking to myself aloud that I have to consciously internalize it if I'm not alone, and I find it very challenging.
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