Why do we have an internal monologue? - eviltoast

What is it for?

  • elscallr@lemmy.world
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    10 months ago

    I use it for reasoning. It’s a way to talk to myself without having to do so out loud, which I do a lot.

    There is a segment of the population who, apparently, don’t have one. Even deaf people apparently have an inner monologue of hand signs visualized. But this segment just lacks one entirely. I don’t understand how they think, how they come to a conclusion. Things just pop into my mind, when I take my mind away from other matters and let my subconscious bake on an item… is this the way they think about everything? I don’t know.

    • send_me_your_ink@lemmynsfw.com
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      10 months ago

      So I’m one of those people without an internal monologue ( but I can choose to subvocalize if I want).

      I don’t know if this will help you understand but for me everything is quiet. All the time. I don’t say to myself “I should take a bite of the apple” - I just take a bite. As I type this reply out I have not determined what the next world will be before writing it, I just write. If I need to build a mental image it is simply there.

      When I need to make a decision, is made. I might have been pondering it for some time, but it’s not a surface thought. Again I can subvocalize - but it’s more speaking to the room as opposed to having an internal argument.

      And when I say quiet, I mean quiet. I did not realize for most of my life that monologues in books where anything more then a story telling device.