I don’t have a voice in my head: life with no inner monologue

PARIS: Mel May only realised she was different while reading a news article one day.

“Wait, what? Some people hear a voice in their head?” she thought at the time.

She was stunned to discover that this was not just a figure of speech – her friends were actually chatting to themselves in their minds.

May, a 30-year-old Australian video producer who lives in New York, remembers trying to explain to her family: “I don’t have a voice in my head.”

“My dad was like, ‘You are lying’,” she told AFP.

But her father came around once May started working with psychologists who agreed – she is one of the very rare people who lack inner speech.

The idea that some people might not experience this phenomenon is so new that a clinical name, anendophasia, was only proposed for it in a paper last year.

The inner monologue has proven extremely difficult to study because it relies on people being able to describe how they think – and it turns out people are unreliable narrators.

Only a quarter of the time?

To study these phenomena, Hurlburt conducted research that would have a beeper go off at random while study participants were reading Franz Kafka’s “The Metamorphosis” and describe what was in their head.

Rather than speaking the words in their inner voice, they were actually creating visual images – “their own video” – of the book, he said.

People also have different kinds of inner speech. Some have multiple voices, while bilingual people can switch languages.

Giordon Stark, a California-based particle physicist who was born deaf, has a mix of inner speech and visual images.

“I don’t think of the word ‘bed’ in my head but I rather visualise the idea of my head hitting the pillow,” which is similar to the sign language gesture for the word, the 34-year-old told AFP.

Pressed to estimate how often people are hearing an inner voice, Hurlburt emphasised that much more research is needed on the subject.

But a ballpark figure could be that people are “inner speaking” 20 to 25% of the time, he said.

Pros and cons

May believes her lack of an inner voice is why she has never been an anxious person – and why meditation is very easy for her.

Daniel Gregory, a philosopher specialising in inner speech at the University of Barcelona, said a potential disadvantage of having more inner speech is “a vulnerability to negative thought patterns, to rumination”.

But we can also “use inner speech to encourage ourselves, to give ourselves positive messages”, he told AFP.

May said a common response to hearing that she has no inner monologue is: “Wow, that must be amazing.”

“I’m really quick to push back on that because I think certainly there are pros and cons,” she said.

“I reflect a lot about what aspects of the lived experience I’m missing out on.”

A different experience

As well as not stressing about the future, May has a hard time remembering the past.

Loevenbruck said the people she had studied with aphantasia reported having “weird” autobiographical memories “because they have no sensory way of reliving a memory”.

May emphasised that lacking an inner voice did not mean she was incapable of thought.

“I’m not dead inside. I know stuff and I feel stuff,” said May, who plans to make a documentary about her experience.

Asked what was running through her head, she responded simply.

“Well, I’m sitting here, I’m listening to you and then I just automatically respond. And that’s it.

“Isn’t that how this happens for everyone?”

Conclusion

The study of inner speech and the lack thereof has opened up new avenues of research and understanding. While some may view the absence of an inner voice as a unique or even advantageous trait, it is clear that there are also challenges and limitations that come with this experience. Further research is needed to better understand the complexities of inner speech and its role in our daily lives.

FAQs

Q: What is anendophasia?

A: Anendophasia is a clinical name proposed for the condition of lacking an inner voice or inner monologue.

Q: How common is having an inner voice?

A: It is difficult to estimate exactly how common having an inner voice is, but research suggests that people may be “inner speaking” 20 to 25% of the time.

Q: What are the benefits and drawbacks of having an inner voice?

A: Some potential benefits of having an inner voice include being able to encourage oneself and provide positive messages, while potential drawbacks include increased vulnerability to negative thought patterns and rumination.

Q: Can people with no inner voice still think and process information?

A: Yes, people with no inner voice can still think and process information, but they may do so in different ways, such as through visual imagery or sensory awareness.