This is how people with no internal monologue really think
As you're reading this, you can hear the words in your mind, right? You're saying the words out inside your head as you move along.
Now, imagine trying to read this without the little voice in your head?
It's impossible to even comprehend.
Yet, there are millions of people throughout the world who have no inner monologue at all, a term recently coined as anendophasia.
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But what actually is the inner voice?
Cognitive scientist Johanne Nedergård personally defines it as a 'subjective experience of producing language without visible movements or audible articulation.'
It's how most of us think, mull over decisions, debate internally with ourselves when we're wondering if the jacket really does look good enough to justify the price.
But some people don't have the words in their head at all, and Nedregard has explained how those people think instead.
How do people with no inner monologue think?
"Often they report thinking in images instead," Nedregard told LADbible.
"So for example, instead of repeating a shopping list word by word in their heads to remember it, they would remember the spatial locations in the supermarket where they would pick up the items.
"However, some people who don't experience an inner voice also don't experience visual imagery. Those people often report thinking in abstract "ideas" or "concepts".
"One of the most important scientific challenges in the field right now is figuring out what that means."
You'd be forgiven for wondering how people with know inner voice can even read, given the majority of us have only experienced doing so in one specific way.
Yet, Nedregard also explains how they do so, saying: "There are many strategies available for remembering words other than saying them in your head (you could picture what they mean, picture the letters, put the words together in a narrative, etc.), but people who don't experience inner speech do struggle with remembering words.
"If it's really about remembering specific words, they often use externalisation strategies such as saying the words out loud or writing them down."
How people react when they find out they don't have an inner voice
'Thinking' takes place on a scale and is tough to define, with scientists still not knowing exactly why some people are without an inner voice.
What they do know, though, is that people tend to be surprised when they learn their mind works differently to the majority of the population.
"Pretty shocked!" Nedergård replied when asked how people tend to feel when they make such a startling discovery.
"Most people don't find out until they're well into adulthood when they happen to have a conversation with someone else about it.
"It could for example arise when talking about reading or about the common representation of "inner speech" in books and films - which they tend to think is for the viewer's/reader's benefit rather than meant to represent what thinking is actually like for a lot of people.
"They often think it sounds like it would be annoying to have an inner voice."
Topics: Science, Mental Health
Daniel Murphy