Talk To Yourself? What It Means For Your Memory…

“What’s this story about? I’d like to know more about it.” That kind of dialogue likely existed inside your head before you decided to read this article. Scientists have long assumed that everyone possesses this inner voice, yet this isn’t so.

Surprisingly, this silent self-conversation is limited or lacking among some people—possibly as many as 10% of the population. Recently, scientists wondered how having an inner dialogue—or lack thereof—affects your cognitive function and memory. Here’s what you need to know…

Inner Dialogue Increases Cognitive Function

It’s unlikely many of us have given our inner dialogue a moment’s thought, let alone paid any serious attention to it. It’s always there when we need it and use it constantly.

This silent verbalizing is crucial to our thinking and self-awareness and has a positive influence on multiple tasks, such as reading, writing, planning, and problem-solving. While this inner dialogue has been studied for half a century, only recently have psychologists realized, to their surprise, that not everybody has an inner dialogue to the same degree, with some not having it at all—a condition called anendophasia.

This has led to the world’s first study to determine whether anendophasia affects the way problems are solved.

Testing The Brain-Boosting Power of Inner Dialogue

For the study, 47 adults reported high levels of inner speech, and another 46 reported low levels. All took part in four experiments.

At first, they had to remember words in order that were similar, either phonetically or in spelling, e.g., “bought,” “caught,” “taut,” and “wart.” In the second step, they had to determine whether a pair of pictures contained rhyming words, e.g. pictures of a sock and a clock.

These tests should be more difficult for those without an inner voice because the words need to be repeated inside the head to remember or compare their sounds to see if they rhyme. And that proved to be the case. Those without an inner voice performed significantly worse on these verbal memory tasks.

In the final two experiments, the participants had to switch quickly between different tasks and distinguish between very similar figures. Even though language and the inner voice play a role in these tasks, this time, there wasn’t any difference in performance between the two groups.

Compensation Strategies Make a Difference

One of the study authors, Johanne Nedergård from the University of Copenhagen, believes the reason for this is that people without an inner voice compensate by using other strategies. For instance, some say they tap with their index finger when performing one type of task and with their middle finger for another type.

In her conversations with people who don’t have an inner voice, they explain what it’s like to lack one…

Words Without Sound

“Some say that they think in pictures and then translate the pictures into words when they need to say something.

“Others describe their brain as a well-functioning computer that just does not process thoughts verbally, and that the connection to loudspeaker and microphone is different from other people’s.

“And those who say that there is something verbal going on inside their heads will typically describe it as words without sound.”

According to Johanne Nedergård, the differences in verbal memory won’t be noticed in ordinary everyday conversations, and whether not having an inner voice holds any practical significance is unknown because the study of anendophasia is in its early stages.

“But there is one field,” she said, “where we suspect that having an inner voice plays a role, and that is therapy; in the widely used cognitive behavioral therapy, for example, you need to identify and change adverse thought patterns, and having an inner voice may be very important in such a process.”

She went on to explain the next step in her research.

“The experiments in which we found differences between the groups were about sound and being able to hear the words for themselves. I would like to study whether it is because they just do not experience the sound aspect of language, or whether they do not think at all in a linguistic format like most other people.

Summary:

A recent study explores the impact of having an inner voice on cognitive function and memory. Approximately 10% of the population lacks this inner dialogue, a condition known as anendophasia. The study found that individuals without an inner voice have inferior verbal memory, particularly in tasks requiring internal word repetition. However, they compensate using other strategies, like thinking in pictures or using physical cues. This research highlights the potential importance of an inner voice in cognitive behavioral therapy and opens new avenues for understanding cognitive processes in those with anendophasia.