No Internal Monologue

wolly.green

wolly.green

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I don't think in words. I think in abstract patterns and connections.

I realize this is a "hot topic". Its talked about all the time on facebook and youtube. For years I've known that I am not a verbal thinker. But I did not realize how controversial this simple fact really is.

It's only recently that I've come across a whole world of people that can't fathom the idea of having thoughts without words. I had a conversation with my own sister recently that ended badly with her saying "well that's because you don't think". Its shocking to me that this is so controversial and that it could cause so much confusion...

Are you a verbal thinker? How difficult is it for you to understand that some people don't think in words? Is it annoying to you?
 
wolly.green said:
I don't think in words. I think in abstract patterns and connections.

I realize this is a "hot topic". Its talked about all the time on facebook and youtube. For years I've known that I am not a verbal thinker. But I did not realize how controversial this simple fact really is.

It's only recently that I've come across a whole world of people that can't fathom the idea of having thoughts without words. I had a conversation with my own sister recently that ended badly with her saying "well that's because you don't think". Its shocking to me that this isn't common knowledge, and that it would cause such confusion...

Are you a verbal thinker? How difficult is it for you to understand that some people don't think in words? Is it annoying to you?
Click to expand...
@Asa
 
People's brains all work in unique ways.
For a long time I also thought that everyone's worked like mine, but then I learned about Temple Grandin
and discovered that apparently that way of thinking was/is unique, which is how my brain works as well.
Though more like a shitty version of hers.
 
I have an inner voice. Back and forth conversations and a lot of speech writing goes on in there. And as weird as this may sound, sometimes, when I'm really upset or really psyching myself up to achieve something I'll like, do this internal chant monologue in my head lol. But other than that. I hear my voice in my mind AND I experience certain thoughts or realizations as flashes of images and emotions that can't be put into words. That part is very visceral.
 
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acd said:
I have an inner voice. Back and forth conversations and a lot of speech writing goes on in there. And as weird as this may sound, sometimes, when I'm really upset or really psyching myself up to achieve something I'll like, do this internal chant monologue in my head lol. But other than that. I hear my voice in my mind AND I experience certain thoughts or realizations as flashes of images and emotions that can't be put into words. That part is very visceral.
Click to expand...

Oh so you're a mix of visual and verbal?
 
wolly.green said:
I don't think in words. I think in abstract patterns and connections.

I realize this is a "hot topic". Its talked about all the time on facebook and youtube. For years I've known that I am not a verbal thinker. But I did not realize how controversial this simple fact really is.

It's only recently that I've come across a whole world of people that can't fathom the idea of having thoughts without words. I had a conversation with my own sister recently that ended badly with her saying "well that's because you don't think". Its shocking to me that this is so controversial and that it could cause so much confusion...

Are you a verbal thinker? How difficult is it for you to understand that some people don't think in words? Is it annoying to you?
Click to expand...

Up until two years ago I flirted with the idea that language is always woven into thoughts, but I've distanced myself from that idea since then.

I find it surprising how easy it seems for some people to tell whether they think in words or in patterns. I'm quite familiar with the content of my thinking (and even the pattern of that content, i.e. I have a lot of recurring thoughts content-wise) but the form is less immediately recognisable. If I were to just concentrate on my experiences of thinking I would be at a loss to tell whether I favor thinking in words or in images/patterns.

It's only by looking at the kind of writing I do that I can work my way back by inference to the likely form of my thinking. Based on my writing I would say that it's about 50/50. There is a lot of verbal reasoning but equally a proliferation of images. Often the images are syntheses of different pieces of content connected with one another which it proves very difficult to translate into words when I write about them.
 
Ren said:
If I were to just concentrate on my experiences of thinking I would be at a loss to tell whether I favor thinking in words or in images/patterns.
Click to expand...

*has moment of clarity*

Maybe that means I'm a sensor

giphy.gif
 
Huh.

Kinda.

I find my thoughts are incomplete and jumbled in my head. I mostly imagine hypotheticals and have a little movie going on. If I need to actually think I have to talk out loud or journal to get everything "unjumbled". I've talked out loud to myself for as long as I can remember. Sometimes I would pretend to be talking to animals but really I just needed to sort my thoughts out.

I can't visualize words in my head or even verbally spell. I have to get a pen and paper out and write it down and then I know how it's spelled. If people try to spell something out loud to me I legit can't follow. It's very anxiety inducing so I usually have people write it down themselves because for some reason I have a hard time coverting the name of a letter to a word, I'll hear them but jumble them, I'll hear "f I s h e d " and I'll start writing f I h s e d . I think that's dyslexia maybe? I switch numbers in phone numbers and all sorts of nutso stuff.

I even will switch vowels while speaking without realizing it,

"Comboot bats"

And once I said

"And we've saved the last for best"

Like I don't realize I'm doing it. It sounds right to me.

I guess the reason I'm mentioning all of this since it's not directly related is there must be some sort of neurological explanation for the differences.

I have extremely high linguistic intelligence, I'm sure if your brain is better at audio or visual it would be different.

My audio learning is HORRIBLE in terms of following verbal instructions. I need something written down. If I'm learning something I need to see AND hear it, then do it. The most important part is the muscle memory for me. Someone could show me how to do something a million times but if I don't figure out how to do it on my own I will remember how it's done but just can't imitate it. Same with following visual instructions for dancing; I can't seem to understand how to move my body parts the way I'm seeing someone do it. If someone explains the motion to me rather than me just watching, especially with a metaphor, I can do it. But I have to *understand* on some abstract level before I "get" simple fucking tasks.

My brain is a crazy place yo
 
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