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I was talking to my therapist yesterday about something and it sparked an idea that I am curious about...
I have read that some people think more in words, and some think more in images and/or feelings but without a sort of mental inner monologue. And it's interesting because most grow up not realizing that there are others around them whose thoughts manifest in a different way.
I have an inner narrator. I do have some thoughts that are more of a visualization, but usually not a highly vivid or detailed one. Most of my thinking is in words.
And I was also an insatiable reader as a child, learned to read at a young age, and for most of my life I have one if not multiple books that I am reading at any given time.
What occurred to me, was to wonder if these things might be linked? Could being an early and avid reader contribute to one's mind developing a verbal narrative function in the way that they think?
So I thought maybe I would ask others here... Do your thoughts form as an internal narrative in words, or not? And did you grow up reading a lot, or not so much?
Same here.
Learned how to read at 5, by the first grade was finishing 11 volumes of complete edition of Julius Verne.
I was reading eating, sitting, walking in the street, pretty much, everywhere and every moment.
I could read 360 page book overnight.
Yes, do have "inner narrator", so to speak.
I was not an early reader and was functionally non-verbal until around 7 years. I can actually remember the first time I spoke to someone outside my household.
I have an inner narrator. Always have. But I am very careful who I choose to listen to. Oftentimes it is someone I know or have known, but sometimes I will enlist the help of a movie character. I have found this habit to be very, very helpful.
I visualize. In fact, I have had a Goal Book for many years. Goal books are helpful in that they keep me on the same track - sometimes for years.
FWIW, I became very capable as I grew older and remain so in my retirement. I fix things, build things, keep my life in order and became an award-winning salesman and executive in my field.
Reading came a bit later for me, but I became a fairly good reader.
I think we all visualize, whether we intend to or not. Maxwell Maltz explained this in his book "PsychoCybernetics". I still have my original copy from 1969.
Don’t you guys ever get tired of that “internal narrator” who always gives you random feeds of information, songs, movies or memories that you already know? I’d love to walk through an isle at Kroger without having some 80s song playing through my head while I’m trying to find the right taco seasoning.
Why do you think it's stuff 'we already know'? I can't speak for anyone else but a lot of my thoughts are speculation, 'what if' scenarios? The visualization is from familiar objects, people, places, but the thoughts themselves, not necessarily so.
Don’t you guys ever get tired of that “internal narrator” who always gives you random feeds of information, songs, movies or memories that you already know? I’d love to walk through an isle at Kroger without having some 80s song playing through my head while I’m trying to find the right taco seasoning.
I don't have that problem at the store because the 80s song is usually playing over the PA system and I've reached an age where I often hear songs I like, that I'd forgotten I like...
But I do get tired of my internal narrator sometimes running two streams of thought at the same time, where often one will trail off and get lost and I'll then have to pause and go find it again. Lots of tangents. I find that the times I am most likely to have a whole exposition going on in my head are when I'm in the shower and when I am commuting. It's like I'm on a routine-based auto pilot, so my mind picks that time to 'splain to me some elaborate theory or carry on a long one sided conversation with a difficult relative I don't speak to much anymore or ask the question, "if you were going back in time to fix every mistake you've ever made, how far back would you have to go and which ones would be the most important to correct along the way?" or to explain to myself why the plot of this show or that book is actually a really good metaphor for blah blah blah blah etc. It's kind of a lot sometimes.
Though I know that some of the excessiveness of brain chatter is said to be part of ADHD and I have learned as an adult how to manage and control when it's reached a point that it is distracting or burdensome. Sometimes I just let it run.
There is a writing style called "stream of consciousness" and I am reminded of that. I recently got a book written by an old high school friend of mine that is written in this style, and I LOVE her book. But I really like her, and enjoy the way she thinks. My first introduction to this writing style that I was aware of was in school where they had us read James Joyce's "A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man." It was not in any way enjoyable to read. It was just bad; it was so bad it made me actually angry.
So I guess that to enjoy a writer's stream of consciousness, I have to actually like them and how they think.
These days though, I hope they still teach James Joyce if only so that kids writing reports on him will research him on the internet and find his "Love Letters" he wrote to his wife. Which are filthy and hilarious and that's a fitting punishment for any adult forcing innocent young people to read the hot garbage he wrote as though it deserves to be taken seriously as "literature."
Don’t you guys ever get tired of that “internal narrator” who always gives you random feeds of information, songs, movies or memories that you already know? I’d love to walk through an isle at Kroger without having some 80s song playing through my head while I’m trying to find the right taco seasoning.
Yeah. I once had to go through an entire day listening to Karen Carpenter sing her Christmas song, "Merry Christmas Darling" - in the summer!
Isn't inner commentary and vivid visualization just what we call consciousness? We're wired to model the external world using self awareness.
They are certainly manifestations of consciousness. But I had assumed that everyone had a great deal of inner commentary in their heads, and in recent years I keep seeing things online explaining that some people do and some don't. And then that some think more in visualizations and imagery than words, and some form very vivid and detailed mental images, while some kinda take shortcuts in that regard or do not necessarily form a mental image of something at all if they don't actually try.
And I find this interesting. And I wonder about why different brains develop different methods of processing thought and experiencing consciousness.
When I first encountered the idea that others may not have an inner monologue as I do, I wondered..."but how do you even think?" Then I remembered the times that I tried to take ADHD meds, and part of why it felt so jarring and weird is that it silenced my inner thinking voice. I was still able to speak to other people though, and it felt odd because I did not have a sense of where my words came from. I described the feeling as, "the lights are on in there, but nobody's home." It felt...robotic.
And, too, I am able to read written words or hear spoken language and understand what the meaning is without mentally crafting an image of whatever is described. If I am not visualizing the apple, yet I understand what an apple is, what is the nature of that understanding?
Well, upon seeing the word, "apple," I may flash on fast bits of information connected to the word. Such as how I dislike the phonetics of the word, "apple." Or my brain will, in an instant, offer up half a dozen thought tangents about apples that I may or may not select to go down. Personal anecdotes about apples? Knowledge of apple related trivia? Memory of a childhood trip to an apple orchard? Recommendations for the fried apples at Cracker Barrel? Folklore featuring apples?
It's like that with almost any prompt. My mind offers a bunch of possible paths to go down, all in a moment. I can either grasp at the thread of any one, or wave them aside and move on.
They are certainly manifestations of consciousness. But I had assumed that everyone had a great deal of inner commentary in their heads, and in recent years I keep seeing things online explaining that some people do and some don't. And then that some think more in visualizations and imagery than words, and some form very vivid and detailed mental images, while some kinda take shortcuts in that regard or do not necessarily form a mental image of something at all if they don't actually try.
And I find this interesting. And I wonder about why different brains develop different methods of processing thought and experiencing consciousness.
When I first encountered the idea that others may not have an inner monologue as I do, I wondered..."but how do you even think?" Then I remembered the times that I tried to take ADHD meds, and part of why it felt so jarring and weird is that it silenced my inner thinking voice. I was still able to speak to other people though, and it felt odd because I did not have a sense of where my words came from. I described the feeling as, "the lights are on in there, but nobody's home." It felt...robotic.
And, too, I am able to read written words or hear spoken language and understand what the meaning is without mentally crafting an image of whatever is described. If I am not visualizing the apple, yet I understand what an apple is, what is the nature of that understanding?
Well, upon seeing the word, "apple," I may flash on fast bits of information connected to the word. Such as how I dislike the phonetics of the word, "apple." Or my brain will, in an instant, offer up half a dozen thought tangents about apples that I may or may not select to go down. Personal anecdotes about apples? Knowledge of apple related trivia? Memory of a childhood trip to an apple orchard? Recommendations for the fried apples at Cracker Barrel? Folklore featuring apples?
It's like that with almost any prompt. My mind offers a bunch of possible paths to go down, all in a moment. I can either grasp at the thread of any one, or wave them aside and move on.
The bold sounds like your ADHD kicking in. Someone once described his as ADHD with ESP, because he would notice things during a conversation others wouldn't because he wasn't focused.
The bold sounds like your ADHD kicking in. Someone once described his as ADHD with ESP, because he would notice things during a conversation others wouldn't because he wasn't focused.
I suspect so.
It's why I think that with just a few minor accommodations and awareness, as an adult, my ADHD is not only easy to manage, it can be more of a benefit to me than a hindrance.
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