Author(s): Nedergaard, Johanne; Lupyan, Gary | Abstract: It is commonly assumed that inner speech – the experience of thought as occurring in a natural language – is both universal and ubiquitous. Recent evidence, however, suggests that similar to other phenomenal experiences like visual imagery, the experience of inner speech varies between people, ranging from constant to non-existent. We propose a name for a lack of the experience of inner speech – anendophasia – and report four studies examining some of its behavioral consequences. We found that people who report low levels of inner speech have lower performance on a verbal working memory task and have more difficulty performing rhyme judgments based on images. Task switching performance, previously linked to endogenous verbal cueing, was unaffected by differences in inner speech. Studies of anendophasia, together with aphantasia, synesthesia, and differences in autobiographical memory are providing glimpses into what may be a large space of hitherto unexplored differences in people’s phenomenal experience.
  • Inner speech is considered universal and ubiquitous, but its perception varies from person to person.
  • Lack of inner speech experience is called anendophasia.
  • Individuals with low levels of internal speech perform worse with verbal working memory and image-based rhyming judgments.
  • Differences in internal speech do not affect the efficiency of task switching.
  • Research on anendophasia adds to the diversity of phenomenal human experience.
  • can
    3·
    1 year ago

    Fascinating stuff. I love that we’re learning more about the variations in how we experience thoughts and the world itself.

      • FartsWithAnAccent
        3·
        1 year ago

        Have you tried just “playing” music in your head instead? Most of the time, I’m just thinking instrumental music.

        • the post of tom joad
          1·
          1 year ago

          I do get music stuck there often but I’ve never tried being intentional about it. I’ll give it a try

      • can
        3·
        1 year ago

        Mine either only runs some of the time or it’s all the time and I’m too distracted with more abstract thought to notice. I’m not sure which.

        • the post of tom joad
          2·
          1 year ago

          Yeah there are good days where i can give the static something (like an old actors name or sports stat) to chew on but other days im trying to think while ‘national anthem’ by Radiohead is banging around up there

          • can
            2·
            1 year ago

            I do my best thinking when a song is playing in my head. Might be an ADHD thing. Need to occupy some mental processes so I don’t get distracted.

            Do you hear Thom’s voice in your head?

            • the post of tom joad
              1·
              1 year ago

              8 was talking about the cacophany of horns at the end really. If i have thoms voice stuck in my head it’s a pretty good day

                • the post of tom joad
                  1·
                  1 year ago

                  Haha i hope it’s obvious that i love radiohead. Its just I was listening to it on one of my “bad brain” days and i thought to myself “this song is somehow expressing just what it feels like inside my stormy brain”

  • FartsWithAnAccent
    2·
    1 year ago

    Never heard of that before but I usually don’t have a voice inside my head talking to me unless I consciously do it. Usually I use my “internal audio” to play music while I’m doing stuff. Then again, my internal monologue is often external anyways.