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Comment on Why do we have an internal monologue?
0x0001@sh.itjust.works 2 years ago
Not everyone does, I’ve had a lot of conversations with a lot of people on this topic.
People’s thought processes range from monologue to dialog to narration to silence to images to raw concepts without form.
I personally do not have a constantly running monologue, but rather have relatively short bursts of thought interspersed with long periods of silence.
adam_y@lemmy.world 2 years ago
naharin@feddit.nu 2 years ago
In the article they bring up many questionable aspects of this idea, which seems to lack in scientific support.
And so the bicameral mind remains a highly controversial idea
bjoern_tantau@swg-empire.de 2 years ago
In my day to day life it makes little difference however, despite being an avid reader and writer I struggle tremendously to read aloud.
Thanks, I actually wanted to post that as a question. I would have thought that reading silently would be harder.
adam_y@lemmy.world 2 years ago
[deleted]ada@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 years ago
Do different characters sound different or is there one ‘voice’ that acts as a narrator?
Neither. I think of the idea of the words, rather than hearing the words in my mind. Which is to say, though I can read a sentence and string together the words I read in my mind, the l there is no voice to those words, no gender, no accent, no volume etc.
bjoern_tantau@swg-empire.de 2 years ago
For me different characters have different voices. The narrative is either the voice of the character whose perspective is currently shown (which can lead to conflicts if I don’t know the perspective at the start) or it is how I imagine the author to sound like or my own voice.
aeki@slrpnk.net 2 years ago
I do read extremely fast in my native language (Spanish). Feels like entire sentences go straight into concepts and my brain builds a whole world based on what I’m reading.
However I started reading in a verbalized way with my second and third languages (English and Swedish) because I was completely useless at pronunciation, while reading at a high level. So I had to learn the sounds and they started invading my reading, which I sort of resent.
But the verbalization is still very mild; faint, monotone, non-enunciated.
Some people talked about poetry and I hadn’t considered that my absolute lack of poetry-sense could be related. People have told me about the metrics and whatnot and it really doesn’t click. I have to sort of analyze a poem and explain it to myself in prose, and I imagine that defeats the purpose of poetry?
tburkhol@lemmy.world 2 years ago
I do wonder if not having to ‘hear’ words changes the rhythm of reading.
Hadn’t thought of this…what’s your take on poetry, especially meter-forward? Like, Robert W Service or Robert Frost, I feel would be less interesting if they didn’t have their beat.
I don’t do voices or accents when I read. Everything is in the same ‘voice,’ which isn’t quite the same as my spoken voice. My internal voice enunciates much better and slightly lower pitch. It’s more like the voice I wish I had than the voice I do have. :)
Bitrot@lemmy.sdf.org 2 years ago
I am pretty sure it does. From what I’ve heard people that essentially “read out loud” inside their head tend to have a have a slower reading pace. I don’t think Anauralia is necessary to not do that, either.
0ops@lemm.ee 2 years ago
Oh yeah, often I’ll even have a specific person in mind playing the character: an actor, someone I know, etc. I often don’t even realize that I’m doing this
elephantium@lemmy.world 2 years ago
if not having to ‘hear’ words changes the rhythm of reading.
Poetry instantly comes to mind. I have a very different experience when I silently read poetry vs. reading aloud or listening to someone read it aloud, especially when the poem is written with rhythm in mind.
lordnikon@lemmy.world 2 years ago
it depends on if I heard a voice of that character before for example Batman is always Kevin Conroy and the joker is always Mark Hamill. another usecase is if I listened to the audio book then start reading a text book. Ray Potter shows up alot.
Bitrot@lemmy.sdf.org 2 years ago
Out of curiosity do you visualize in your mind? Like if I say a stapler can you conjure one?
The people with both Aphantasia and Anauralia fascinate me.
Hackerman_uwu@lemmy.world 2 years ago
I’ll chuck in my answer since I’ve been asked this before too.
I don’t “see” a stapler. I perceive a future state where the pages are stapled. This does appear visually in my mind but not a a a picture of stalled pages rather a set of symbols that incorporate the task “to staple” into the other things that I am concerned with at the point of thinking about that task.
“Set of symbols?” Is probably your follow up question - yes, geometry or iconography that describe the path from here to that future state where that pages are stapled.
That’s the best I can do. None of this is literally narrated in my mind, however typing this out to you each sentence is “auditioned” as I imagine I am speaking it to you.
Bitrot@lemmy.sdf.org 2 years ago
That is fascinating! And different than I’ve heard described elsewhere by either the “non-visual” or “non-verbal” thinkers. I think I am pretty generic, when I think of a stapler I literally see a red swingline stapler floating in a void like in a 3d modeling program (that stapler specifically due to the movie Office Space, and therefore I also own one).
Wolf_359@lemmy.world 2 years ago
Do you enjoy coding, math, and logic?
TheDoctorDonna@lemmy.world 2 years ago
That sounds heavenly. Mine will not shut up. And when I’ve run out of current problems to worry about, I start thinking about all my past fuck ups an embarrassments. And that’s just in the time it takes to a simple activity. When I’m at work it is constant flipping back and forth between my anxious thoughts and doing my work and worrying about how I might be fucking up my work.
PrincessLeiasCat@sh.itjust.works 2 years ago
This describes me 100% and I fucking hate it. And I’m sorry you go through it, too.
Surp@lemmy.world 2 years ago
Try vyvanse meds bro it will calm those thoughts. Obviously talk to a doctor about it
TheDoctorDonna@lemmy.world 2 years ago
I truly wish there was someone who could properly diagnose me. I did take a RAADS test a while back but I didn’t have a psychiatrist to bring my results to, so I go undiagnosed and likely will forever with the current health crisis. I don’t know if I can go on something like that without a proper diagnosis. I can’t even find a family doctor unfortunately.
But I appreciate the tip 😊 thank you.
some_guy@lemmy.sdf.org 2 years ago
Mine seems to appear when I’m not on auto-pilot. If I’m heating a can of soup, there’s no real thought. I’m probably thinking about other things while carry out simple steps. If I can’t find something, it’ll pop in and say, “Where did I leave that?” Or maybe something like, “I should call Mom cause it’s New Year’s Day.” Another is, “I’m glad I remembered my umbrella,” when in rain. But I don’t have monologue about putting on my shoes or locking my door. Those are mechanical tasks while I think about something else in an abstract fashion.
celeste@kbin.social 2 years ago
Yeah this is similar to my experience. Some stuff gets done without that monologue, but I'm not completely without it.
scarabic@lemmy.world 2 years ago
I suspect that most people have a partial internal monologue, whereby some thoughts arise to the level of verbiage and others don’t. There is also variance in how self-aware we are of our thoughts themselves. I don’t think anyone can keep up effective, meta self-monitoring 100% of the time, so our own view of our thought process is probably skewed as well. Some people swear that every single thought they have is 100% verbalized. I think that’s impossible and they’re only counting verbal thoughts as thoughts. But no doubt some people verbalize more than others.
0x0001@sh.itjust.works 2 years ago
Insightful, I’ve found that most people change their answers at least slightly after having time to observe their thoughts for a while, we are geniuses at believing our own conjectures.
BeardedGingerWonder@feddit.uk 2 years ago
I’d say I can’t actively observe a thought without my internal monologue in some way narrating it or articulating what’s going on. Frankly that’s the reason I have difficulty understanding what it’s like for someone without internal monologue.
scarabic@lemmy.world 2 years ago
I’ve been able to observe myself stringing ideas together in a complicated way before actual words can land. The other day this happened and I considered stopping to put words to my thought and decided to just let it go and move on.
AnalogyAddict@lemmy.world 2 years ago
Yep, I don’t, either. I think mostly subconsciously, then in raw concepts, then images, then words. I have to actively translate what I’m thinking into language in order to understand it myself or communicate it, but I do better if I externalize the language through writing or speaking.
afraid_of_zombies@lemmy.world 2 years ago
I have a committee. Usually made up of people I know well. loud motherfuckers
LaunchesKayaks@lemmy.world 2 years ago
I have a mixture of types of thought processes. I mostly think in pictures and play things out in my head like a silent movie, but sometimes I have a monologue. Sometimes I think in a way I can’t describe with words.
SeeJayEmm@lemmy.procrastinati.org 2 years ago
I always find this conversation fascinating and it makes me wonder in what other ways people may experience the world differently.
I do have a constant internal monologue. Every word I read is spoken in my mind. My thought process is, to my awareness, me talking things out in my head.
YashaB@lemmy.world 2 years ago
Me to. This is the first time I think about that. Everything I read or write gets spoken aloud.
When I am hearing a book or a podcast there is silence though, because when there is someone else talking, my inner voice would interfere.
Fascinating.
Kase@lemmy.world 2 years ago
That is so interesting. Thanks for sharing!