It'll surprise you to learn that not everyone thinks in words. Personally, all of my thoughts are words. The idea that your thoughts couldn't be words is just so alien to me that people who report it must be lying or just incapable of actually understanding it but that's a bit presumptuous.
I think it's only like 50% of people have this inner voice and by some estimations only 25% of people do. A huge chunk of the population just has images and no inner speech.
>Inner speech occurred in about a quarter of all samples, inner seeing occurred in about a quarter of all samples, and feelings occurred in about a quarter of all samples. The other two phenomena occurred just as frequently but are not so well known.
I don't know how valid this study was, I'm not a scientist.
TheGreatestIan t1_j6pjpgr wrote
Reply to ELI5: Wouldn't our brain work more efficient if we learn to stop verbalising everything in our minds? by [deleted]
It'll surprise you to learn that not everyone thinks in words. Personally, all of my thoughts are words. The idea that your thoughts couldn't be words is just so alien to me that people who report it must be lying or just incapable of actually understanding it but that's a bit presumptuous.
I think it's only like 50% of people have this inner voice and by some estimations only 25% of people do. A huge chunk of the population just has images and no inner speech.
An interesting article with people describing what it is like. Some people have an internal monologue all the time (like me, I'm pretty sure it is all the time), some people do sometimes and not others, and others never have an internal monologue ever.https://www.iflscience.com/people-with-no-internal-monologue-explain-what-its-like-in-their-head-57739
https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/blog/pristine-inner-experience/201110/not-everyone-conducts-inner-speech
>Inner speech occurred in about a quarter of all samples, inner seeing occurred in about a quarter of all samples, and feelings occurred in about a quarter of all samples. The other two phenomena occurred just as frequently but are not so well known.
I don't know how valid this study was, I'm not a scientist.