Do You Hear a Voice in Your Head When You Think?

Sometimes yes, sometimes no.....sometimes I have a conversational debate...I guess I don't actually hear it, just think it....I'm thinking of a sound, can you guess it? To put into words ones thought's it would seem a dialogue is necessary.....When I'm just thinking, say abstractly, certainly no words are present....I think you do sort of hear echos of memories, otherwise how would you remember a conversation?....but no words are necessary in a artistic endeavour...

I thought everyone thought the way I do, with an inner voice and maybe pictures or movies, sort of like a Youtube video with audio. But sometimes ideas just appear out of nowhere. Perhaps that's how the other half thinks.

I agree: I think of the brain have a periphery area that does most of the work, and I am the centre area of awareness that has do as I'm told.

I find it very unsettling to think that some people might physically think in a different manner than my own...but that would explain why some people just don't understand some things that other people seem to....It would also explain the lack of understanding in the world today, or at least a partial contributing factor...but is it all really just intellectual capacity and level of education? ...that seems to make more sense to me...I think a major contributing factor is childhood trauma and communication...I think everyone is effected by childhood traumas that influence the way they deal with life's challenges mostly in a subconscious way...and communication and the ability to express ones self in cogent and accurate manner I think is key....

"I thought everyone thought the way I do..."

I felt the same for many years. Unfortunately That continued through most of my teaching career. As a result, I was an excellent teacher for those (apparently a minority) students who do think like I do, but not so good for those who think in other ways.

It is now clear to me that different people may have totally different ways of processing information.

Early in our marriage (of well over 50 years), I would see my wife staring at nothing in particular, and I'd ask "What are you thinking about?", and she would commonly say "nothing". At first I was offended, because to me, that meant she didn't want to tell me what she was thinking. After years of this, I finally came to the realization that she was actually telling the truth: she was NOT thinking about anything.

Even though I finally came to that realization, I still find it inconceivable. For me, it is absolutely impossible to not be thinking about something! For her, it apparently happens frequently.

These differences are a MAJOR problem for education. Somehow, we must find out how different people think, and then teach using appropriate methods for each individual. I have NO idea how to achieve that goal!

I would say let the student choose what works best, and then test to verify...I always had trouble in school because it was so boring most of the time...It took me years to realize that they just moved at too slow of a pace for me....I think a lot of people like me learn faster by doing, stop talking and start doing is my motto....A lot of the material fell just too far outside my areas of interest, yet at some point in my life those things did become of interest, and learning the material became much easier and faster...So having the material available at the right time I think works much better than trying to learn everything at once....learn and master what interests you at the time and move on to the next thing....School is taught in an archaic manner and never worked well for those unmotivated to learn the material...

You are clearly one of the sharper tools in the shed, and as such, self-motivating. Unfortunately, many students don't seem to be motivated by anything that you and I would consider worthwhile, and the parents are commonly a large part of the reason for such lack of motivation.

Such 'students' are not likely to make wise choices, but then neither are teachers or counselors who don't understand the thought processes of such individuals.

I suspect that most people learn by doing ( I certainly did/do!), but that only helps if they are doing appropriate things...

I certainly hope you're right. That link is almost two years old, but I hadn't heard of it. But then I've lost nearly all my connections to education. I do happen to know of one particular high school in New York state that just this year inaugurated a wonderful new shop, including at least one CNC mill.

Amen on vocational training and vocational training is not so easy to "outsource"

I was ahead of my class in the 6th grade, the only one with a driver's license...

You and Jethro Bodine.

When thinking in words, I experience that as non-audible mono- or dialogue, like silent reading.

Once in a great while I "hear" someone speak, but when I ask, I'm told that nobody said anything. This probably classifies as a hallucination rather than real hearing. Similar for dreams.

Sure,I hear voices.The problem is,I can't get a consensus on the answers.

Painters, sculptors, musicians, are surely engaged in thought in their endeavors, but not within the realm of spoken language. So of course thought can occur without words. However, I don't understand the thought process (or lack thereof) of people who are incapable of spatial visualization. In my experience, many people cannot visualize anything except what is physically in front of them. I find this incomprehensible.

Even a simple room renovation, when it is complete, can elicit the response, "Oh, very nice, but I didn't know it was going to look like that!" One time, forgetting my manners, I said, "What do you think I've been talking about for the last three months?" The answer: "I know, but I just couldn't see it."

The voice in my head usually sounds like an incredulous Samuel Jackson in Pulp Fiction.

My inner voice was loving that! Thanks. Haha...

Link please?

It's a GIF, just right click and copy....

No voice category here. Inner voicers.... don't you find it annoying?

OTOH Rixter I do have access to a visual catalogue of memories, and audio memories, very exact like recordings. They don't do any thinking, though!

But how do you know if you are the voice or the head? Could it not bee that you are just a figment of your thoughts and don't really exist? Would that be the Quantum you and only appear because someone is looking for you and then to find you have been changed for all time by the look, well those who are married can relate to "THE LOOK".

Another scary possibility explored is that other people think like you think in the very same way. Now that is a scary thought that somewhere there is a politician thinking the way I do. I doubted any had the cognitive ability.

Does the voice in your head talk in male or female voice, are you in touch with your opposite and am truly gender diverse?

There I go again bringing up topics that will cause some to doubt their sanity or mine.

I personally find it is too crowded for another voice in my head with all my imaginary friends, just like face ache, and they are all clamouring for my time.

My children often ask what planet am I on when I come out with some obscure word but that is what comes of writing plays and acting, isn't life just one big act anyway?

The voices I hear while perusing the net are sometimes in a foreign language,Spanish,German,etc.,like a news reporter.I do not speak either language,so I ignore them,but they are there.Perhaps I should write some of it down and try to translate them.They are similar to hearing a radio in the background.They do not interfere with my thought process,but are ever present.

What is disconcerting is when they are having a debate;about what I do not know.

"If you are what you eat,does that make me nuts?",said the squirrel.

Ooooooooooooh, good one.

What if only some of the voices are laughing at us?

I think I'm about half and half; when I do hear a voice it's mine: as an experiment I tried thinking in a silly foreign accent.

I have heard that some multilingual people say that some different languages are better for thinking about different sorts of things.

Definitely! There are plenty of concepts that can't truly be translated between two languages. English, I believe, has an advantage, because it includes so many words adopted from other languages.

On the other hand, I'm sure people whose first language isn't English find English difficult, because there are so many words that have several totally different meanings, and which meaning is appropriate can only be determined by understanding the context. One example that comes to mind is "base" (noun OR verb).

And which noun; sports or Chemistry? Let's not forget the fun with homonyms; the register of a tuba or a fish?

Not only sports or Chemistry; how about geometry, machines, buildings, military, etc.?

...and I only mentioned noun and verb. It can also be an adjective or adverb,

How is 'base' a verb? Adjective, sure, but not verb!

If I am wrong, please use 'base' in a sentence!

I like your comments on the English language though.

Base as a verb: I base my argument on these premises....

Base as a noun: foundation.

Base an adjective: base motive.

Base as an adverb: ? (I haven't found an example yet.)

He was accused of very base actions toward his girlfriend.

That's an adjective, not an adverb.

Oops - you're right! I guess I'll have to withdraw the adverb form, unless someone can help me out...

Come to think of it, I believe you must add "ly" to make it an adverb, so that doesn't count for the base word.

Dang! Didn't think of that word in that context.

To dkwarner: sorry, I was wrong.

Still irritated that I was wrong.

On what grounds do you base your objection to its use as a verb?

Any noun can be verbed...

Interesting topic. I don't think it's as cut-and-dried as that. There are certain times when I am thinking, that it is in a monologue with images added. This is usually when thinking of someone - what I would say when we meet OR thinking of something I have to do. These are in monologue. If I am investigating a subject of interest, I am seeing images which I then put unto words along with what I am seeing and reading.

I don't seem to hear voices. I do see pictures at times. When faced with a flawed design, images pop up of similar widgets or assemblies I have worked on. To a lesser degree thoughts pop up of things I have read. I scan through these and see which might be useful or easily adapted for my current project. If two take the forefront, I modify them into something I can use. I tend to be a visual person. Something is missing here... A house!... they tore it down since last I was here. Then usually the image of the house pops into my mind.

My first boss would listen to reasonable ideas. If it had merit, he would ask for a drawing. "If you can draw it, you can make it." Similar to a broken part with pieces missing. I try to fill in the blanks in my head until the part and components are complete. Maybe this is common and everyone does it, but some others I have worked with don't seem to be able to grasp it without a physical model. And even a few that can't grasp drawings of things. I'm certainly not saying I'm smarter than anyone, just last week a had a guy of 1 year show me an easier method that I had dismissed in the past. I guess I didn't let my pictures advance far enough.

Hearing Voices are we?

In one of my previous incarnations, the diagnostic criteria was pretty vague on this issue. That is because for most of us it is a matter of perception and just our particular way of describing the normal everyday "selftalk" that occurs all the time in our heads, even when asleep. It has more to do with how we process information than 'someone in our head'. That someone is you.

It takes numerous sessions and often a second therapist to fully form a diagnosis of MPPD. (multiphasic personality disorder) Those folks that actually have other consciousnesses existing in their head. Not a diagnosis you give easily or lightly and for which there is no working cure for. Not something you really want to tell client.

I wonder if most of us have more or less the same experience when thinking, but some people think of their thoughts as having a voice and others don't. In other words, the people that don't think their thoughts have a voice still hear them in their head but think of them as just thoughts, probably because it is their own voice and so seems to be part of them as opposed to something external.

I am now convinced that somehow totally different processes occur in the brains of different people when given identical starting points for a thought process.

Specifically, at the moment I am thinking of how to get from point A to point B. I immediately picture a map in my head, and if that map does not contain sufficient detail, I will find a map that does. (I LOVE Google Earth, Apple Maps, etc.)

Other people, including my wife, don't see what they need in a map; they need words (go X on Y street, turn left, then...) and landmarks.

Now I have been using maps (I suppose that could include electronic wiring diagrams) for well over 70 years, but it's not just age that prevents me from remembering worded descriptions...

There are actually different parts of the brain involved in thinking vs in listening. If I don't "hear" a voice in my head when I'm thinking, that tells me that the auditory cortex bits are not engaged while I'm thinking. If you were looking at an MRI, the auditory area would not be 'lit up' as active. Or maybe it's "Broca's area" according to the article (that has to do with processing language, so it makes less sense to me. ) Maybe some people do also activate the auditory area when they think, and "hear" their thoughts inside their head, is what I am thinking could be the case.

If I'm remembering a piece of music I "hear" it in my mind exactly as if I was playing a recording, with all the parts etc. I can summon up and "hear" someone's voice that I remember, and typically remember their exact words as well. Pretty sure there's a recorder up there. So I would expect all of that is auditory not "Broca" per se.

I can imagine a small animal and give it a voice and "hear" it in my head for amusement. I just don't do that as part of my usual thought process. I have to talk to myself out loud for that.

I have to wonder if people who hear voices in their head are more likely to argue with themselves. This is not necessarily a bad thing unless they tend to loose the arguments!

I sometimes have discussions with myself which turn into arguments then knock down-drag out fights. You should have seen the other guy!

This would appear to be the foundation for "Silent Talk" and other experimental (and applied) technologies that use resonant RF coupling as a brain - machine interface for non-verbal communication.
I believe this to be similar to resonant RF coupling for covert surveillance developed in the 40s-60s for "listening" and further refined in the 1970s as a means of determining whether RF bio-sensors were detecting human or animal presence.
https://www.wired.com/2009/05/pentagon-preps-soldier-telepathy-push/