Do you have an inner voice? 1 in 10 people don't have it and it can affect their ability to remember many things. In the past, inner speech was thought to be a universal human experience. However, in recent years, scientists have discovered that not everyone has this inner monologue, with 5 to 10 percent of people lacking this voice.
Some say they "think in pictures" and then "translate" pictures into words when they have to say something out loud. Others describe their brain as 'a computer that works well and just doesn't process thoughts verbally'. And those who say something verbal is going on inside their head will usually describe it as silent words.
This phenomenon, called anendophasia, can affect the way people solve problems and store information.
In studies conducted by scientists, participants without an inner voice had significantly more difficulty memorizing words. But apart from the difficulty of "thinking in words", does anendophasia have any practical significance for those who experience it?
"The short answer is that we just don't know because we're just starting to study it," says Danish neurologist Nedergård. "But there is one area where we suspect that having an inner voice plays a role, and that's therapy; in widely used behavior therapy, you have to identify and change negative thought patterns, and having an inner voice can to be very important in such a process".
"However, it is still uncertain whether changes in the experience of an inner voice are related to how people respond to different types of therapy," continued Nedergård.
