Voice in head - my mind is blown?

[Maps]

I just had my mind blown by a social media post (that lead to me researching) that only 30-50% of people hear an inner monologue in their head that narrates their inner thoughts. I 100% thought everyone experienced this??? It made me wonder, do artistic people and authors experience this more than others, which allows us to create these worlds and dialogues? Do you hear a voice in your head as you read and think?! I’m still recovering after looking into all of this…

[igneriss]

I hear a voice in my head as I read and think, though I think it would be really cool to think with pictures I talked with a friend who doesn't have that inner monologue, and when they read a book it plays out in their head like a movie. That sounds really cool
Maybe that's why I usually don't pay much attention to descriptions of characters' looks or enviroments and never understood 'I pictured this character different than they did they in the movie!' thing

[DasIstWunderblyat]

Yes, and they have different voices.

For example if I read a person's writing, I will read it in my "default head narrator" voice if I don't know their voices, or read it in their own voice if I have heard their voice.
When I continue reading manga/book after watching the anime/movie, the voices of the characters in my head will sound somewhat like their anime/movie counterparts.

Also I have known that fact for so long and that would be interesting to see more characters that do not have inner monologue, and challenging too for some.

[Maps]

That’s really interesting! I feel like I can play a movie in my head along with the narration of the voice, but I do have a lot more trouble imaging the characters. Like, usually if I have a reference of a person or actor that I can apply to a character, I have an easier time playing a movie. Otherwise it’s mainly me reading and hearing my voice/characters voices tell the story 🤣

[RainbowCat]

I have that voice in my head, two actually. One is for my usual thoughts which sounds similar to how my voice sounds to me and one is a more neutral voice for when I focus on the voice too much or read something serious (like a scientific text). But when I read a story, it plays like a movie in my mind and the voices go quiet, replaced by the characters' voices

[Maps]

I definitely hear character voices too, as I’m reading. I’m feeling like I’m so late to this fact right now! I still can’t get past it lol

[TheLemmaLlama]

Hmmm ... I'm having a narrator in my head right now as I read everything in this thread but how much of that's just my mind being primed to have a narrator because you mentioned it? Do I normally have a narrator in my head when I'm not thinking about it? I can't remember and I don't know if there's any way to find out

[feuersichel]

This thema is super interesting! I myself also hear a voice, depending on the characters I'm reading and I see the szene in my inner eye. But it is sometimes annoying, especially, when it's time to sleep and my inner monologue starts kicking in xD

Recently I watched a video from Nina Fleer, a german artist talking about hyperphantasie. It is sadly not aviable with english translations. There she has different tests, on how good you can imagine an aple as example. Can you see the shape? can you even see colors? etc.

Interesting thing is, there are people, who even can imagine the taste or textures of things o.o I myself can't but my partner was shaking, when he had to think about the sour taste of a lemon. It's so wild

Here the video:

[LostKelp]

Yeah I get the whole "not how I pictured it" thing, because when I read a book and then hear it narrated it can feel disorienting because the voice that's reading it sounds so different to my inner monolouge and vise versa, if I only hear a story being told to me it auditorially can feel weird reading it.

[Noorie]

I can imagine tastes and smells, but I don't hear any voice when reading (can imagine sounds only if I specifically think about sounds, like remembering a song or what someone said), but when reading or thinking I just feel thoughts, I don't really know how to explain ir, just words without sound, but not visually as a text, more about meanings of words

[NickRowler]

What do you mean by this? Most people experience inner thoughts. I don't really have thoughts like "I will pick up the shoe with my hand" if that is what you mean by narration.

When it comes to my inner thoughts, it's more like a "podcast" in my head, so talking about things that happen and media analysis. Sometimes I drift off into daydreaming stories for my characters. I think I also have that thing where music, numbers, and shapes get all jumbled, sort of like the film Fantasia but happens with every song I hear, which can get really distracting.

[IndigoShirtProd]

I made a thread about this topic like a year ago, lots of good responses. I do have an inner voice which can be a good thing an bad thing at times

Yes, I can have full on conversations with myself inside my head No, I can only think abstractly I'm not sure 0voters Votes are public. Show results Here's a definition from Wikipedia: An internal monologue, also called self-talk, inner speech, inner discourse or internal discourse, is a person's inner voice which provides a running verbal monologue of thoughts while they are conscious. It is usually tied to a person's sense of self. I personally have inner monologue and often have …

[Maps]

Thanks for sharing!!

[powerplantanimations]

I hate hearing my own voice in my head (I have to take breaks from YouTube editing because my voice gets grating for me). I hear words if that makes any sense. It doesn't have a particular voice... in fact, I'm not sure how to describe it.

[BLTX]

I actually distinctly remember not being able to hear a voice in my head up until first grade. All these years, I thought it was super weird I couldn't do that, but if this is true, I suppose it starts to make a bit of sense now.

[Ordinaryaverageguy]

Yep, there are people who don't internally visualize & move objects just like some don't "hear" the internal dialog while thinking, or hear imaginary characters conversing. Different folks, different gifts, but it sums up to make a world.

[Awesomeness_Studios]

Well, for me oftentimes my head feels too “full” to have an inner monologue and instead I just talk my thoughts out loud lol. I try to be careful not to do that (at least loudly) when other people are nearby. I just feel like I can understand myself better if I actually hear myself.

[Lensing]

The thoughts in my head don´t feel like a voice
"I should go to the kitchen and drink a glass of water before I grab the guitar and start playing"
That would be super weird for me

[theyrebothakilogram]

I have to be careful reading books because my brain will mimic whatever the tone of the book I'm reading I read a British period piece and my brain got stuck doing jane austin style monologue

[Kelheor]

@theyrebothakilogram Why is it... Bad though? I always thought that's how it usually works for everyone