Who else has voices in their head?
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Original Question
The other day I learned of some new research that suggests not everyone has an inner voice, some people don't have the ability to think in words. Instead, they describe their thoughts as a wave of feelings.
When I asked my family I was very surprised, my mom, dad and brother do not have an inner voice and cant think in words. (Honestly, I don't know how they even read.)
Anyways, I have tried to teach them about logical fallacies in the past, but they just never seemed to get it or understand logical analysis. Could it be that lacking the ability to think in language inside your head is a necessity to form this higher level of thinking?
They said they just act on waves of emotion, which is probably why they make quick decisions based on feelings and emotions rather than any kind of reasoning or logical analysis like I do which takes me longer to make decisions.
This new insight could be why a lot of the population are so susceptible to propaganda, marketing and so on. Whereas I never understood how people could be so emotionally reactive and blindly fall for all of the emotionally reactive appeals.
To me to not be able to think in language/words with an inner voice would be to think more like an animal rather than a human. Its so weird!
I have a hypothesis that most of you on here who do logical analysis will also have the ability to think in words with an inner voice.
I think in words, a voice, images, symbols, and waves of feelings. The voice in my head can also be other peoples voices, for example I can have arguments and debates with someone else in my head where I here their voice, and then I hear my voice respond and it goes back and fourth like a real debate.
Please let me know if you share or lack any of these inner experiences!
Comments on Question
I never heard of this. Interesting. Can you share the links to the research?
I read about 10 different articles on it, but not the actual research paper.
Here are some of the links I read:
https://science.howstuffworks.com/life/inside-the-mind/human-brain/inner-voice.htm
Answers
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Sometimes when I read a book I'm aware that I'm just reading words and it almost echos around inside my head. Do I "hear" a voice? I'm not sure I'd describe it as hear. Whether this is what other people experience I obviously can't say, but I do talk to myself and feel that by speaking the words it somehow has more substance or definition.
One thing that I can't do, which apparently others can, is visualise things. I have tried hypnosis tapes and I'm told to picture something and I can't. I cannot so much as visualise a circle on my mind's eye never mind a person who I'm then supposed to manipulate. At best if I try to visualise something it can flash up for a millisecond. I'd say I'm good at drawing but only if I copy something, otherwise I have only fleeting ideas of what things look like and can't draw the details. I couldn't describe what a family member looks like.
So back to the reading books thing, some people say that when they read a book they have sort of movie playing in their mind, where as by comparison I sometimes struggle to follow a story because I'm so self aware of just reading words and don't know where they go.
On the other hand I do dream and/or daydream. I sometimes even close my eyes whilst trying to watch a TV show and go into a sleep like state where I hear the audio but invent my own video. That's pretty weird.
Also I can daydream while reading a book, where I'm reading the words but I don't know where they went because my mind wandered, but I remember looking at them and flipping pages. Then I have to go back several pages and read it again.