I’ve never known a person without an inner monologue. My assumption was that people lied because they thought they’d be considered crazy if they said they yes.
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Everyone has thoughts. But if I’m speaking with someone, I mainly say my thoughts out loud as I form them.
I think the words as I read, but I don’t hear my own voice in my mind as I read.
On a related topic, speed reading is all about not ‘saying’ the words in your mind. People who can speed read at a high level explain it as ‘seeing’ a story unfold. And speed reading is a trainable skill.
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So when you’re thinking, you don’t have a discussion within?
I do have an inner monologue and had just assumed everyone did.
I also have an inner DJ.
I constantly have songs playing in my head. Sometimes I mentally sing along but mostly it’s just in the background.
I can go for quite long periods during the day not being aware of it until it bursts back into my consciousness. If I start mentally singing a different tune then that usually locks it in for a good while.
Radio Geoff is current playing Boot Scootin’ Boogie, FWIW.
Am I a freak or is this common amongst the Blitzerati?
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I have a persistent inner monologue - and, if I could switch teams, I would in a heartbeat.
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No
(2 letter posts aren’t acceptable apparently)
EDIT: I’m capable of having a ‘discussion’ if I actively sound a question in my mind, but normally no, I think the thoughts without the words mostly. Even if I sound a question in my mind, I don’t normally put ‘words’ to an answer.
Reading “aloud” (either physically or in your head) is the only way (in my experience) to satisfactorily proof-read.
Otherwise, you’ve just getting the vibe.
see get this - i’m a very confident public speaker and a good storyteller. i’m perfectly comfortable standing up in front of a group of strangers and taking them on an oratory journey. no problem at all.
but if i’m reading words off a page, i turn into the “t-t-t-today junior” kid from billy madison. this operating system does not come with text-to-speech.
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Songs are different. A song can get stuck in my head at times, but most of the time not. Incidentally, I read recently that when a song gets stuck in your head, your brain treats it like a puzzle that needs to be solved. I don’t know how true it is, but it sounded interesting.
By all reports, speed readers can read technical journals as quickly as stories, and almost always have better retention of what they read than slower readers.
I don’t know if that extends to detecting spelling or grammar errors though.
The Peep Show is possibly the best and funniest tv series that utilises inner monologues as its main concept.
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Thanks. That’s interesting. I’m familiar with an “ear worm” where a song you’ve just heard gets stuck in your head (for better or worse) so that puzzle idea makes sense.
What I’m talking about is more like my subconscious trawling through my back catalogue of songs and playing them as a soundtrack to my day almost. It’s rarely a song I’ve just heard, although that too happens of course.
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In Sydney the night before the 1996;Prelim Final, Cheer Cheer the Red and the White non stop in my head. It was an omen and I had to endure it being sung as I left the SCG.and I was being taunted.
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This was my exact response.
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It’s when the Inner Monologue bleeds out to the exterior that it becomes a problem…
In order to hear my inner monologue don’t I need a second inner monologue to listen to him (or her) and relay what they are saying back to me?
I’m actually not entirely joking about this. I’m constantly reviewing what I should have said or what will say in imaginary future conversations/scenarios but to stop right now and try and tell you what my inner person is saying at this moment is not so easy.
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What’s the percentage if you have ten inner monologues?
Asking for ten friends.
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