Ever wondered if everyone experiences that familiar internal dialogue? Delve into the intriguing world of inner voices, exploring the science behind this phenomenon and its implications on our consciousness, cognition, and overall human experience.
Russell Hurlburt has been doing experiments on people’s inner experiences, their thoughts, feelings, and sensations for decades
Experiments showed that subjects talked to themselves inwardly 26% of the time, but many never experienced inner speech
- Some people use language-based chatter to organize and focus their thoughts
- Others use visualization
- People on both sides of this “inner monologue” divide have a hard time imagining another way of being – to the point that it freaked everyone out during an online debate that went viral in February.
What Causes an Inner Monologue?
Some research shows that people often use more inner verbalization when they’re under pressure
- Among people who do report inner monologue, they tend to perceive those voices as their own
- When we speak, there is an internal copy of the sound of our voice generated at the same time as our speaking voice
- An ongoing Massachusetts Institute of Technology project has successfully demonstrated that a head-mounted gadget can “read” people’s thoughts
Is inner monologue a sign of intelligence?
The inner voice is associated more with personality than intelligence.
