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People have asked me this. I don’t know what to say other than I just make the connections I need to in my head. sometimes it’s visual but it’s usually pretty abstract and I’m not really very conscious of it. From the outside it probably looks like intuition. I write a lot of things out and sketch things.

i have a math heavy degree so pretty sure im not disabled in any kind of way. sometimes I struggle to explain my thought process but not usually. it is equally perplexing to me that people seem to think that verbalization of thoughts is needed to think.

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jvanderbot 2 days ago | parent [-]

When you consider a paragraph, perhaps to write, how do you plan it before writing?

When you reflect on something embarrassing, how could it have gone differently? How do you imagine "I should have done this differently?"

Imagine arguing with a friend, now a clone of yourself, now hold two options in your mind (what to have for dinner) and assign a clone to argue for each. Is it possible?

You must get this all the time and I'm sorry, but it's so interesting! I'd buy all your beers for weeks just to chat about it.

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JohnMakin 2 days ago | parent [-]

I don’t get this all the time or get into it because most people don’t understand or dismiss it. I just hope I can explain well enough.

When I write it’s almost always flow of consciousness style and I make a lot of mistakes. In online or chat kind of settings it makes me look a little dumber than I am, I mix words up on the spot a lot, it’s probably the closest thing to whatever would be my “internal” narrative, also because I am limited by the speed at which I can type. So when to type a paragraph if I am being serious it usually takes 70+ revisions (not changing what I am saying) for me to consider it perfect. I don’t usually bother and go 1/10th of that for professional writing and tend to be called a decent writer (again, I have to try).

So that’s probably the lack of narrative thing. writing my thoughts out helps. I have always kept extensive journals going back to when I was 5 or 6 or whenever I could write.

for your second scenario yea that’s a very easy thing for me. I often argue with myself anyway. I mutter out loud sometimes, probably makes me seem a little unhinged but with what I do it fits right in with other “types.”

I do visualize and play out scenarios a lot in my head, they are very vivid, and I am pretty proficient at going farther with this with lucid dreaming. Sights/sounds in my head are very easy for me. I just don’t really hear my own voice, or whatever.

I think it comes with some downsides with introspection sometimes but I’ve been well aware of this for a while - which is why I think the “argue with yourself with two conflicting arguments” thing is probably easy for me. I am constantly in “arguments” with my own assumptions. I think this last thing is why I’ve always been fairly proficient with abstract math.

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jvanderbot 2 days ago | parent | next [-]

Thanks for sharing. I find it impossible to differentiate what I consider my inner monologue from any of the above. So, maybe we are more similar than different.

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the_gipsy a day ago | parent | prev [-]

> I often argue with myself anyway.

> I am constantly in “arguments” with my own assumptions.

This is usually what best describes "having an internal monologue".

Do you ever imagine yourself or other people saying hypothetical things?

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JohnMakin a day ago | parent [-]

people describe it as some constant flow with an actual voice. I do not have that, and I don’t feel a need to conjure visions of arguing with myself to do so - that sounds weird to me. I don’t really know how else to describe it.

	▲	the_gipsy a day ago \| parent \| next [-]
		To give some insight into what "monologue people" perceive: I don't exactly hear an actual voice, that would drive me crazy. I cannot do good multitasking with anything verbal going on. If someone is talking to me, I cannot do anything else that also requires my inner monologue well. I can drive a car, which doesn't require my inner monologue, and have a conversation with the passenger, but I cannot program or plan something while someone is talking into my ear all the time. But the monologue is there, almost uninterrupted. It's just that very often I don't notice it. I have a hard time ignoring actual voices, unless there is some sea of other background noises or chatter.
	▲	jvanderbot a day ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		I don't hear a voice either. Or imagine one. I can just talk to myself. Maybe we're all weird.