- Inner Speech:
Inner speech is the experience of speaking words in the person's own voice, with the same vocal characteristics (timbre; rate; inflection for commas, question marks, etc.; pauses; accents; stutters; etc.) as the person's own external speech, but with no external (real) noise. In its pure form, the experience of inner speech is identical to that of external speech except that the mouth does not move and no external production of sound is produced.
- Partially Worded Speech: Partially worded speech is the experience of speaking in one's own inner voice, except that some substantial number of the words that are being spoken are absent from awareness. Thus the person has the sense of speaking, and is directly aware of the vocal characteristics of that speaking: rate, inflection, timbre, rhythm, and so on. Furthermore, many of the words that are being spoken are present directly to awareness, precisely as in inner speech. However, some of the words are absent from the stream of speech. Space is "reserved" for these words, as if the words will be added at some later time.
- Unworded Speech: Unworded speech is the experience of speaking in one's own inner voice, except that there is no experience of the words themselves. Thus the person has the sense of speaking, and is directly aware of the vocal characteristics of that speaking: rate, inflection, timbre, rhythm, and so on
- Worded Thinking:: Worded thinking is the experience of thinking in particular distinct words, but those words are not being (innerly or externally) spoken, heard, seen, or voiced in any other way.
- Unsymbolized Thinking: Unsymbolized thinking is the experience of thinking some particular, definite thought without the awareness of that thought's being represented in words, images, or any other symbols.
Unsymbolized is a weird choice of term. I specifically mostly think without words and cannot form "realistic photo" images in my head, but I am most definitely using symbols.
If I have to make a considered choice from multiple alternatives, I can imagine[1] them as undescribable objects (not anything matching the real world) imbued with all their meanings, and I can observe their properties such as one is cheaper and the other takes longer as if they were properties like weight or color, and I can mentally rearrange them around in a virtual space. These things are clearly symbols representing the alternatives.
[1]: Visualize seems like the wrong word. These things might not have actual shapes, colors, etc. Spatialize?
When the article describes people as "hearing a voice inside their head", do they mean something that could be mistaken for an actual voice (identifiable speaker, cadence, accent, etc) or do they just mean that in some way specific words are put together to form thoughts?
I'd describe myself as having an internal monologue, in that I think in words, but there's no "voice" involved. I don't "hear" anything, and it doesn't have any identifiable characteristics. For me, it's like silently reading: the words exist somehow, but aren't actualized. I'm a native English speaker, and it's definitely English, but there is no identifiable speaker.
I ask because I'm mostly aphantasic (don't see pictures in my mind) and I'd always assumed that when people described "visual thinking" they were just being metaphoric. When people described "hearing a voice in their head", I had presumed this was also just a metaphor. But seeing as I was wrong about images, maybe I'm wrong about voices too, and people really hear them as voices?
There was an earlier article that made a couple of categories inside the "has internal voice" group. It went something something like:
Can your internal voice
- raise its voice to sound louder
- change its expression, sound happy, sad, angry
- sing
- do you hear conversations with multiple participants, with separate voices
I recall the article said some people had "singular, monotone" internal voices that are more streams of words than actual voices, and others heard it as if it was an actual sound.
When thinking more abstract or intense thoughts, for me it's probably more or less what you're describing? Sort of disembodied voice, at least when the focus is not on the qualities of the voice, but on the details of whatever the thought happens to be.
Although, I can also choose to listen to any thought in a voice of my choosing, if I focus on it. Then it has "real" voice qualities such as accent, pitch and tone, but without differing volume. And it always seems a bit duller than real voices. I guess that's how I would describe it at least.
A friend of mine claims it's an actual voice and he has conversations with the voice in his head. He claims it's like having an internal editor. He's also super proficient with writing and speaking.
I struggle with having anything in mine. I don't see pictures or really hear anything at all. I struggle explaining myself to folks, as the verbal/written expression is entirely different then my internal process which is largely around feelings.
I hear my own voice. Even while typing this the words are "auditorily" echoed in my head. This is my voice.
But there's also "other" voices. These are all of course also me, but they can have "different personalities." This happens when I'm arguing with myself. Think of like simulating other people or points of view to challenge yourself (self adversarial learning, if you will).
> I struggle explaining myself to folks, as the verbal/written expression is entirely different then my internal process which is largely around feelings.
I think this is normal. Despite having a strong internal monologue I still often struggle here. I think this is more the aspect that words are a (significant) compression of the ideas you're trying to convey and the people you talk to need to decompress this, but in a global society we can often be primed in very different ways so have grave miscommunications. I like to say verbal communication has 3 parts: what you intend to say, what you say, and what is heard; these don't need to be aligned, and they are never perfectly aligned. It's actually impressive that we communicate as well as we do!
I hear my voice. If I am thinking about a recent conversation, I will hear that persons voice. Sadly, I can no longer recall my deceased father's voice and wish I had a recording.
- Inner Speech: Inner speech is the experience of speaking words in the person's own voice, with the same vocal characteristics (timbre; rate; inflection for commas, question marks, etc.; pauses; accents; stutters; etc.) as the person's own external speech, but with no external (real) noise. In its pure form, the experience of inner speech is identical to that of external speech except that the mouth does not move and no external production of sound is produced.
- Partially Worded Speech: Partially worded speech is the experience of speaking in one's own inner voice, except that some substantial number of the words that are being spoken are absent from awareness. Thus the person has the sense of speaking, and is directly aware of the vocal characteristics of that speaking: rate, inflection, timbre, rhythm, and so on. Furthermore, many of the words that are being spoken are present directly to awareness, precisely as in inner speech. However, some of the words are absent from the stream of speech. Space is "reserved" for these words, as if the words will be added at some later time.
- Unworded Speech: Unworded speech is the experience of speaking in one's own inner voice, except that there is no experience of the words themselves. Thus the person has the sense of speaking, and is directly aware of the vocal characteristics of that speaking: rate, inflection, timbre, rhythm, and so on
- Worded Thinking:: Worded thinking is the experience of thinking in particular distinct words, but those words are not being (innerly or externally) spoken, heard, seen, or voiced in any other way.
- Unsymbolized Thinking: Unsymbolized thinking is the experience of thinking some particular, definite thought without the awareness of that thought's being represented in words, images, or any other symbols.
https://hurlburt.faculty.unlv.edu/codebook.html