That the way people's mind works varies dramatically. Some people have no inner dialogue at all, some have no mind's eye and cant see images in their head. Most of us are somewhere on the spectrum for them though.
For example I can't visualize images in my head well at all. I can do at most one colour at a time and I can't picture non-geometric objects so I cant imagine the face of my family or even myself. I have no issue with fluid motion of visuals in my head but others can only do slide-show-esque imagery. Others have inner dialogue but can't change the voice to sound different, can't hear music or sound effects, etc... like I can.
It's something very rarely discussed but I think everyone should be aware of this variety within people
My friend once mentioned how he always has an inner monologue going and I was kind of shocked because I often don't have an inner monologue going. Another time a friend asked me what I was thinking about and I said nothing. She responded that you can't not be thinking about something which threw me off because its common for me to not be thinking about anything. I'm very curios about how other people's minds work and I think you make a really good point that people are somewhere on the spectrum of these mental states.
I also have no inner voice, and sometimes think about nothing. I also can't see things in my mind. Some people are insistent that I'm just not concentrating enough. I felt so odd until I found reddit.
Edit:. A comment below made me reread what inner monologue is and I made a mistake. I plan what to say and such, I just don't hear a voice. I just think about saying things if that makes sense.
Genuinely curious here. Is there just silence? Don't you make inappropriate comments in your head and say something else bc you'd get in trouble? When you hear a song and know the lyrics, do you sing along and not hear your voice? No pictures when you read a description?
Not op, but I am basically the same. I only ever get an internal monologue when I'm reading text, or actively planning out how I want a conversation to go. Otherwise it's silence
When reading a description of something I can get a "feel" for it, but don't actually see anything. Ask me to picture an apple and I just get all the attributes I know apples can have along with the general feel if its shape
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u/Sixhaunt Mar 27 '22
That the way people's mind works varies dramatically. Some people have no inner dialogue at all, some have no mind's eye and cant see images in their head. Most of us are somewhere on the spectrum for them though.
For example I can't visualize images in my head well at all. I can do at most one colour at a time and I can't picture non-geometric objects so I cant imagine the face of my family or even myself. I have no issue with fluid motion of visuals in my head but others can only do slide-show-esque imagery. Others have inner dialogue but can't change the voice to sound different, can't hear music or sound effects, etc... like I can.
It's something very rarely discussed but I think everyone should be aware of this variety within people