I do both. I often struggle with the question “what are you thinking about” and this is partly why.
Not everyone has an internal monologue
831–840 of 904 posts
Re: Not everyone has an internal monologue
#832Earlier quoted context omitted.
No, I think that's pretty normal. I do it all the time. I can even "compose" my own music (it can be any genre, with any type of instruments, and even include voices), but I have no ability to play instruments myself. I'd love to get into music, but just don't have the time. My literature professor back in college said he "listened to" classical music in his head during his morning runs. I just assumed everyone did i…
Man I can't even imagine. I realize a while back that I don't actually hear music in my head when I have an earworm, instead I hear a representation of it made entirely of what would be vocalized sounds. So if I'm hearing the guitar solo from November Rain, its kind of like someone (me, really) going 'bowwwww owww nah nahhhh nah nahahhhhhhh wan nah nah nah nah wah wah' rather than actual guitar noises, but then it's…
I think you're right. It might also partially be an acquired skill. As a musician I hear a lot more details in music than a non-trained ear normally would. This naturally makes it easier for me to recall music with more detail. If you aren't trained and have a low level of musicality then I would assume you'd only memorize/remember the main parts of the song/passage, like the "sound" of the guitar playing that solo, whereas I hear the piano comping (or is it just another guitar? I remember piano :D), bass & drums, all while picturing how to actually play the solo on the guitar.
Like a non-musician hearing a guitar riff would just replay it as "nana nana na, na-naa" or something simple whereas I would be able to hear it in exact detail and how it interacts with the rest of the band melodically as well as rhythmically.
Re: Not everyone has an internal monologue
#833Earlier quoted context omitted.
From my experience, I think a lot of it is due to the fact that you can't really surprise yourself. In the conversation in your head, you try to always be the 'winner' of the debuate, and part of that is to try and come up with remarks from your 'opponent' for which you have gotcha replies. Except you know what your 'opponent' is going to say because that's you. In real life, the opponent is someone else and they may…
Interesting. I tend to think you can surprise yourself. I write stories as a hobby, and my characters often surprise me. I'd say it's down to two things: a) Having to imagine a different personality's perspective, and b) Having some time to think of a better answer than the off-the-cuff one. Point a tends to happen whenever I make an effort to see the world from someone else's point of view, or make up an imaginary c…
True, I didn't want to imply you can't brute force it somehow, but what I was referring to was the general, low-effort, low-stakes conversation we (apparently not) all have in our heads.
Re: Not everyone has an internal monologue
#834Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think that the bicameral mind hypothesis makes sense. Oh, and the phenomena wherein the disconnection of the hemispheres of the brain results in strange cognitive artifacts such as being able to give two different answers to one question, even questions like "what is your favorite color," points to at the very least some kind of parallel consciousness. Another hypothesis is that one hemisphere is the "speaking" bra…
Your disconnection example doesn't imply parallel consciousness to me, it implies extreme flexibility of a general intelligence processor in our heads. This theory seems to be field proven with many example of people suffering massive head trauma yet their brain was able to continue functioning.
Both could be true, potentially.
Re: Not everyone has an internal monologue
#835Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Does that process involve an internally experienced stream of words (whether "audible in your mind's ear" or not) like "I'm pretty hungry" or "I bet that bagel would taste good"? Yes. I can also do this: > decide to eat a bagel without experiences any words. ...but I prefer to think consciously about my actions. Doing too many things without internally verbalizing the decision-making process makes me feel like a be…
What if it’s something more nuanced than what words can express in a concise way? Do you have to slow down your train of thought? E.g. the first bite of that Proust’s madeleine probably didn’t last several minutes...
If I'm trying to consciously evaluate my actions, then yes, I might pause to think before continuing. This doesn't usually happen with something as simple as eating a bagel, though I've certainly contemplated the nature of cream cheese once or twice.
Re: Not everyone has an internal monologue
#836This 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…
For people who experience having an internal monologue: Suppose you see a bagel on the kitchen table in the morning and decide whether or not you're hungry enough to eat it. Does that process involve an internally experienced stream of words (whether "audible in your mind's ear" or not) like "I'm pretty hungry" or "I bet that bagel would taste good"? Is this what it would be mean to have an internal monologue? Becaus…
Additional complexity for me: the prefix "I'm hungry" or "should I have that?" is almost never in inner speech, but the answer upon making a decision always is.
Re: Not everyone has an internal monologue
#837Earlier quoted context omitted.
I am surprised that you said others can suspect ulterior motives, because that started happening to me but I can't figure out what the connection is. Can you expand on that?
I have learned to be cautious with two very different types of people (this is not a scientific exercise, take with a grain of salt): - One is people who are constantly negative and cast stones everywhere, but offset that negativity with charm. They can accrue a network of Stockholm-esque followers that would say "he's not an asshole, he's actually a really sweet person." When they perceive a threat from you, or they…
I hear you about the people who use their charisma to assemble followers and mark you down as an enemy if they can’t bring you into that fold. It’s very disappointing that you can’t have a normal working relationship with them.
Re: Not everyone has an internal monologue
#838Earlier quoted context omitted.
I definitely am capable of thinking non-verbally, and I agree it can help with programming. But I just can't wrap my head around not having an internal monologue at all. How did you even write this comment? What was the process that led you to put together this particular series of words, if not 'hearing' them in your own mind as an expression of your thoughts first? Edit: Thinking on this more, I may not have had an…
Words are like symbols in a programming language. Sentences pop into my head like a while loop construct might.
Interesting. Just curious, are you able to have a conversation with yourself in a mirror without speaking out loud (something that the article says at least some non-internal-monologue-having people say they can't do)?
Re: Not everyone has an internal monologue
#839Earlier quoted context omitted.
Words are like symbols in a programming language. Sentences pop into my head like a while loop construct might.
Interesting. Just curious, are you able to have a conversation with yourself in a mirror without speaking out loud (something that the article says at least some non-internal-monologue-having people say they can't do)?
Yes I can but it sounds somewhat false to me. It's hard to capture in words the real truth of what I am thinking. If I start talking to myself it starts to sound like someone else's voice - my fathers or someone famous
Re: Not everyone has an internal monologue
#840Earlier quoted context omitted.
I understand thinking in concepts but not words, and I understand having an internal monolog, but it seems like you're describing a third option, unless I'm just misunderstanding. Obviously everyone's internal monolog is literally silent, as they're not speaking out loud, but it's most naturally described as 'hearing' the words in your head. (As opposed to literally hearing with your ears.) It sounds like you're sayi…
> Obviously everyone's internal monolog is literally silent, as they're not speaking out loud, but it's most naturally described as 'hearing' the words in your head. I'm not sure it is that clear cut and universally same. So in my case, when I do the verbalization I do imagine the actual sounds, as opposed to written text or something like that. However those sounds are silent in the sense that they are clearly conju…
Interesting! Thanks, that analogy is really helpful. I definitely don't have that level of photo realistic mind's eye. As you say, I can visualize things, but it's not remotely like seeing things in the real world. The way I hear things in my mind is much more like hearing the real words. So I guess by analogy I can kind of understand what it might be like to have a similar internal auditory experience to my visual one.
FWIW reading other comments here I also realized that a better way to describe my internal monolog than internal hearing would be internal speech. It's really more like 'saying' something in my head than 'hearing' it. Even if what I'm remembering is someone else talking, it's kind of a mix between hearing them in my head and.. something like me doing an impression of them to myself.