Do You Hear Your Thoughts?

Yesterday I ended up watching this video about aphantasia from Quiet Mind Inside. She explains why she thinks she never realized that people could actually visualize, and it helped me understand why I had this blind spot (great pun, there) for 48 years. 

I glanced at her other videos and saw she has one about not having an inner monologue.  It was late, and I wasn't in the mood for watching another (and longer) video.  But I wondered if and why a lack of an inner monologue is related to aphantasia.

I started frantically Googling and saw something or somethings about people actually HEARING their inner monologue.  

What????!!!!!

I was totally freaked out...like giggling and on-the-verge-of-tears freaking out.

It's been mind-boggling enough to realize that "normal" people actually, literally visualize.  Like normal people might actually see with their imagination.

But people actually hearing their inner monologues?

I Googled to try to figure out if I was understanding things correctly.

I didn't really find a definite answer.  The idea I got was that there's question and confusion about what "hearing" means.  Is it literal? Figurative?

I'm sure that there are people who literally hear a voice in their head.  My question isn't whether it ever happens.  My question is whether it happens a lot.  Is that what most people experience?  

I was wondering then, what's the difference between that and having schizophrenic auditory hallucinations?   

I'm guessing then the person would be hearing voices that were not their own?

It kind of makes me see  people-claiming-to-hear--the-voice-of-God in a new light.  To me, the experience sounded extremely intense.  I mean it still would be.  But I think it would be much more startling to hear ANY voice in your head if you're like me and don't hear voices in your head than it would be just hearing a different voice to what you're used to.  

I definitely have an inner monologue...pretty much a constant one.  But it's silent.  I mean it's on volume zero.  

I don't know what's more strange to me—not having an inner monologue or having an inner monologue that you actually hear.  

Well...now I'm actually going to watch the video I mentioned above...about not having an inner monologue.  See if it gives me any insights.

 

 Okay, so it seems she is saying that other people actually hear their monologues.  She doesn't seem to have a monologue, period. She talks about how her self-conscious mind takes care of thought processes and communication skills for her.  Her comparison is how others of us walk. We don't need to tell our legs to move. They just do it.  So...her brain does the same for her mouth during conversations.

She then goes over reading...and with what she says there, it makes me think that there are (or she thinks there are) people who actually hear a voice when they read aloud.

Now I'm going to look at comments on the video and see if there are any insights there.

Linnjeanette says, 

The way you explain the reading and typing is exactly how I would explain my mind. But I have "an inner voice". I think thought rendering is maybe a better way of describing it. It's not really a voice, or a narration. And I think that maybe when people say "I hear a voice in my head" the word "hear" is the wrong one to use, it's more that expectation you explain - but it feels like a voice sort of, since it communicates.

This video made me even more confused since I feel like I can relate a lot to what you say, but I know for sure I have an inner monologue. Some of these things sound like a difference in definition and understanding maybe? Because thought rendering sound like a better way to describe it. It's just thoughts that float up there without any real sound.

This is what I'm wondering. What if people are NOT hearing an actual voice.  Maybe we're just not on the same page about the word "voice"?

Most of the comments seem to be about not having an inner monologue. That's fascinating too.  But at this time, I'm more interested in whether people actually hear their inner monologue.  

This article makes me think that people are truly HEARING their inner voice.

Note: I should mention that when I was Googling last night, I didn't really dig deep because A) I wanted to get to sleep B) the Internet doesn't work well in our bedroom. C) My (quiet) mind was racing. 

This article gives me pretty much the opposite answer as the last one. It's about thought-broadcasting, which they say is usually a psychotic symptom.  They say, Thought broadcasting occurs in different ways for different people. For some people, they might hear their thoughts being spoken aloud, when they are not actually saying them out loud.

That makes it sounds as if it's NOT typical to actually hear a voice.

I have had times where I have thought very private things and have had worries that a person with mind-reading powers might be walking by.  That situation would depend on someone actually having these powers. But if you actually can hear your inner voice, I can imagine it feeling more likely that other people will end up knowing what you're thinking.

Both ideas are irrational OR supernatural.  The second one seems more scary, though.  With the first, I just tell myself that it's unlikely one of these mind-reading people are nearby. And even if they are around...it's their word against mine. 

Although I don't like lying and I certainly wouldn't want to gaslight.  So I probably would blurt out a confession.

How would our world change if we knew for sure there was life after death, and it was easy for our dearly-beloved to talk to us via the Internet?   

The Dead are Online, a novel by Dina Roberts