this post was submitted on 06 Jul 2025
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As per title, I am curious. How does your mind / your thoughts work? I only ever experienced my own thoughts, so I'm curious how it works for other people.

I for one feel like my thoughts sometimes are like me talking to myself silently. Sometimes I can even let out a random short sound, which I've come to start disguising by laughing kinda quietly or coughing or whatever. Like it was part of something, and not like an inner monologue almost leaking out.

So, how do your thoughts work?

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[–] Tudsamfa@lemmy.world 1 points 21 minutes ago* (last edited 20 minutes ago)

I'm in the "inner monologue" camp. Most of what I think materialises as thought words.

But I know that can't be all. It's difficult for me to think in words while saying something, but can have new thoughts while speaking.

I feel like I don't have very much imagination any more. Its hard to produce images in my mind, not impossible but I do have to concentrate - remembering images is easier.

Weirdly, way harder to me: imagining a voice. Inner voice is what I sound like to myself, I can remember songs of course, but having any voice say anything is hard, especially female voices. Went through some examples in my head couldn't make anyone say anything - until I though to make different tf2 mercs sing "Oh Canada", that somehow worked despite me definitely not having heard that before.

[–] callyral@pawb.social 1 points 1 hour ago

I keep trying to make this comment, then deleting it and trying again because I'm not 100% sure I have a certain behavior, and thinking about thinking is very distracting

So, I have an inner monologue, mind's eye and I can change my inner monologue's voice if I want. I find it easier to organize my thoughts by speaking out loud, although I do not do that unless alone. Looking at a fixed point also helps me filter out whatever's going on outside to focus on my thoughts inside.

[–] Oberyn@lemmy.world 2 points 4 hours ago

Imagine big ball of hair wound up tight as it can be . You try extracting stand of hair from this wad only for it to break half way through . This's what brain shit's like for me

's not even COUNTING the fact I hafta somehow translate that into words human beings can understand , bcus existing in human body means am forced to ⦅socialise|communicate) with|relate to) humans, then try stringing the words together into some thing only somewhat coherent)

[–] LovableSidekick@lemmy.world 3 points 4 hours ago* (last edited 4 hours ago)
[–] Kissaki@feddit.org 2 points 4 hours ago

My thoughts don't take form as a different persona or talk.

I guess they either arise automatically, or I consciously direct them? Both happen.

Even when I consciously direct them, I feel like most thoughts arise naturally from that, from the subconscious.

[–] wabafee@lemmy.world 2 points 4 hours ago

Either it's random flashes of images/videos or certain random memory from a long time ago, a certain tune/music being played on repeat, or inner mind just constantly asking questions. Though I do noticed I can zone out when I'm really focus on something perhaps that's what it feels like when your not thinking at all.

[–] MTK@lemmy.world 8 points 7 hours ago

For me it is an internal monologue with a silent audience that contributes without a voice.

My internal monologue might say "is this thing I am about to do a good idea?" And a wordless thought will provide a second opinion which my internal monologue would interpret and possibly reply to.

[–] chunes@lemmy.world 3 points 6 hours ago

The same as everyone else's. The "differences" in the way people think can be ascribed to many things:

  • some people are describing active concentration
  • others are describing subconscious thinking
  • describing the way only some of their thoughts happen
  • not inferring what was said the way the speaker intended
  • etc et

Often my thoughts are so fucking fast, my inner voice really can't keep up. I try to sound them out in my head, but am aware of this, and my thoughts have already wandered on. So I really only monologue when I am thinking about a script/text or am analyzing/ problem-solving. Everything else feels like a mix of some short strings and feelings

[–] fmstrat@lemmy.nowsci.com 5 points 9 hours ago

A fun conversation starter is always "So do you have an internal monologue?"

[–] jordanlund@lemmy.world 14 points 15 hours ago
[–] Kolanaki@pawb.social 9 points 15 hours ago* (last edited 15 hours ago) (1 children)

You ever been in a crowded space with hundreds of people talking all at once? You can hear everyone, but not enough to really make out anything except once in a while when someone gets louder than everyone else.

That's what my thoughts are like when I am not high on weed.

When I am high, the crowd shuts the fuck up and I can actually focus on a single, complete thought.

[–] Balerion6@lemmy.world 4 points 14 hours ago

~just ADHD things~

[–] BurgerBaron@piefed.social 4 points 12 hours ago* (last edited 12 hours ago) (1 children)

My mind works by talking to itself, but it's more like I'm the wordless overseer of that voice. There is a lesser maybe faux alter ego's voice that's employed to bounce ideas off of or used for introspection, to humble myself, conceptualization, etcetera, but it can only talk to myself even out loud. If there's another person present they're only talking to primary.

Where I differ from many minds like other self talkers here it seems is that I have full control over the two voices employed by my ego, and if I stop talking it's silent in my skull. Since I also have Total Aphantasia it's a true void in here besides my emotions and hind brain/instincts unless I'm using the voice(s). No real distinction between thinking in my head and speaking out loud.

The unconscious mind passes stuff it processes to the voices to think about. More nuance is far more paragraphs than worth, so I'll leave it there.

[–] lemmyknow@lemmy.today 3 points 11 hours ago (1 children)

Wow, I too can silence my mind. I think. Since I often think consciously, I can just stop and enjoy nothingness, which surely is interesting. Sometimes the contrast between thinking a lot and just plain nothing is quite interesting. Can go badly, though, when someone expects me to say something and I don't have anything to say. They must be on their own side just waiting, thinking I'm crafting something. Meanwhile, if anything, I'm on my side thinking of not thinking, or just plain empty, experiencing the akwardness. It's been some of the most awkward situations, when I'm done speaking and they wait in silence, like I'm not done yet. Yeah, my answer wasn't very long, and you may want more, but I'm just done on my side. Do I need to vocalise an End of Line character?

[–] BurgerBaron@piefed.social 2 points 7 hours ago (1 children)

Two of my friends have insomnia because of racing thoughts, which is just a totally alien concept to me. One mitigates it somewhat with meditation, but the way he describes it seems like my natural state of being lol.

Wow, I too can silence my mind

It's nice to meet another who can!

or just plain empty, experiencing the akwardness.

Yeah it's a fucking awful feeling, can relate. I loathe traditional dates especially.

[–] lemmyknow@lemmy.today 2 points 5 hours ago

Well, sometimes if my mind is too active, I can have a hard time falling asleep. I end up thinking too much or too "hard" and my brain can't rest. I sometimes just listen to music to fall asleep. As I focus on a song, my mind can drift asleep. Either that or I try and just not think, so my mind can rest. Sometimes I legit gotta go "welp, time to sleep. Silence, now" and just be quiet to try and sleep

[–] Etterra@discuss.online 6 points 16 hours ago

There's three hamsters running on a wheel in shifts up in my skull.

[–] FRYD@sh.itjust.works 5 points 16 hours ago (1 children)

I had a serious TBI when I was a kid and more than 15 concussions so my eggs are a bit scrambled.

I can’t sustain a mental image, I can only visualize flashes of things. If I try to hold on to a mental image, it’s just a series of flashes that quickly become warped until the image just kinda dissolves and I have to imagine a new one. I also kinda of can’t remember faces. I can recognize people, but I can’t describe anyone’s face or remember/visualize details. I can only describe my own face as a list of features I’m aware of, but I can’t visualize it nor do I recognize myself in photos.

Verbal thought usually comes in the form of a dialogue between myself and an imagined other person. There’s no one there and I knowingly come up with the question the other will ask, but I can’t just think to myself without quickly losing track.

I also have ADHD, OCD, and major depressive disorder, so I also have the symptoms and episodes of those rattling around up there. I’m not sure if I’d call them thoughts though, because they feel different.

[–] i_am_not_a_robot@feddit.uk 4 points 13 hours ago

I have prosopagnosia (facial blindness) too. Unless it's somebody I know really well, I will struggle to recognise them - especially if they are not where I'd expect them to be, or they've done something with their hair. I'm better with voices - if they speak I'll usually work out who they are straight away.

[–] Ludrol@szmer.info 2 points 13 hours ago* (last edited 13 hours ago) (1 children)

My thoughts are like background noise that when I tune in my internal LLM it gets turned into coherent language(English and Polish). I have recently learned to switch off that LLM for a moment, and as a side effect I begun to have problems with verbal communication.

Edit: I also have a model that turns noise into 3d models and scenes

[–] MTK@lemmy.world 2 points 7 hours ago (1 children)
[–] Ludrol@szmer.info 2 points 7 hours ago

It's more interesting question than you might think.

Am I an LLM? I am not. Am I my thought noise from where LLM translates thoughts into language? I am not.

I am the one that experiences. I am one that contains and observes both of those systems.

[–] i_am_not_a_robot@feddit.uk 21 points 22 hours ago (1 children)

There was a bit of discussion about this on a podcast I listen to (Adrift) earlier in the year.

My mind is basically me taking to myself. As I write this I'm speaking all the words in my head. As I read it back I'm reading all the words in my head.

I believe there's a school of thought that you shouldn't read the words to yourself when you are reading, bit I have to do that otherwise it doesn't go in. I can read a page without the words being spoken in my head but I will then have no idea what any of the page said, v and have to re-read it. Same if my mind wanders while reading - anything I read whilst my internal voice is talking about something else will not go in.

I can't shut it up. If I think about nothing, my internal voice will literally be saying "I need to think about nothing. I should empty my mind. How do you think about nothing?".

[–] Witchfire@lemmy.world 6 points 20 hours ago

It's extra fun when you know multiple languages since that voice also changes languages

[–] Bunbury@feddit.nl 6 points 17 hours ago

I switch between having language based thoughts and more abstract thoughts that aren’t language based. I find that my thoughts that aren’t language based are usually more complex. I also can imagine objects, rotate them or walk around familiar places in my mind. Oh and my language based thoughts tend to match the language I am speaking at the moment (I am trilingual).

[–] Today@lemmy.world 32 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I have no sound, voice, or pictures in my head. I didn't know that other people did see/hear things until a couple of years ago. Thoughts just come in chunks.

[–] Bebopalouie@lemmy.ca 17 points 1 day ago (3 children)

Me to. It’s called Aphantasia (no minds eye, so some or no pics) and Anendophasia (No inner voice). For me my thoughts are “just there” almost impossible to explain.

[–] Today@lemmy.world 4 points 18 hours ago (1 children)

I couldn't understand what it's like for people who actually see and hear things in their heads. I recently realized that I sometimes experience a faint taste and I guess it's sort of like that?

[–] Bebopalouie@lemmy.ca 3 points 17 hours ago

I can taste food ok. Too ok, I seem to be some sort of super taster. Everything is to overpowering.

It scares me to think you could have pictures or movies in your head that you may not wish to have.

[–] Droggelbecher@lemmy.world 11 points 23 hours ago (3 children)

The way I explain it is: when you read, you don't read the words aloud in your head. You look at them and register their meaning. My thoughts are just those meanings. Usually in larger chunks than single words though. They don't have a language. I can 'picture' sounds I've heard before though, like getting a song stuck in my head. That one's more difficult with pictures.

[–] QuizzaciousOtter@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

This is not a good explanation because as someone already pointed out a lot of (most?) people do "read the words aloud in their head". For me, I often even make tiny moves of my tongue and larynx - see subvocalization.

[–] Droggelbecher@lemmy.world 4 points 13 hours ago (3 children)

Interesting, everyone I've told this to said that is indeed how they read!

Does reading something quietly take as long as reading something out loud for you? It's hard to imagine!

[–] QuizzaciousOtter@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 12 hours ago (1 children)

If I'm actually reading with the goal of thorough understanding then it will take as long as reading it aloud or longer. I can still skim through the text faster, but I will understand less of it.

The Wikipedia article on subvocalization has a section on speed reading. It seems that subvocalizing can in fact limit the reading speed.

[–] Droggelbecher@lemmy.world 1 points 10 hours ago

Thanks for the pointer, I'll read the wiki!

[–] i_am_not_a_robot@feddit.uk 3 points 13 hours ago (1 children)

Reading in my head certainly takes the same amount of time as reading out loud (occasionally with different voices for characters, as somebody else said).

If I read without doing that it's a lot quicker but it doesn't go in and I have to re-read it. My mind starts chatting away about something else rather than concentrating on the book.

[–] Droggelbecher@lemmy.world 3 points 10 hours ago (1 children)

Super interesting, cause for me it's the opposite! If I try to read it out loud mentally, my mind is (I guess) understimulated and starts to wander, causing me to have to reread it.

Side question: if you give text a voice, what kind of a voice are you giving my comments here? Not just asking you specifically, but anyone who wants to answer!

[–] i_am_not_a_robot@feddit.uk 1 points 8 hours ago

Mostly it's my own voice for comments 🙂, maybe a slight inflection. I don't usually go overboard on the voices unless it's somebody I know, or occasionally characters in books.

[–] serenissi@lemmy.world 1 points 12 hours ago* (last edited 12 hours ago) (1 children)

If I read out loud faster than certain limit the pronunciation becomes gibberish. Silent reading is much faster. OTOH when I read out loud, I focus on speech, my attention and hence understanding rate drops. So it takes even longer.

For complicated writing I sometimes even have to re read silently to understand the complete meaning.

[–] Droggelbecher@lemmy.world 1 points 10 hours ago (1 children)

Hm so it isn't like reading it out loud, except in your head, after all?

[–] serenissi@lemmy.world 1 points 7 hours ago* (last edited 7 hours ago)

I'm not sure tbh. It can be but often it feels I'm reading the meaning of a word and not pronouncing it in head. These can be misleading easily. Writing, yes.

[–] KyuubiNoKitsune@lemmy.blahaj.zone 13 points 22 hours ago (1 children)

Uuh, yes, yes I do read them aloud in my head.

[–] 200ok@lemmy.world 9 points 19 hours ago

Same. And depending on what I'm reading I'll sometimes use a specific voice..

Like if I'm reading a text from a friend I'll "hear" it in their voice. Or I'll make up voices for characters in a novel.

[–] Today@lemmy.world 4 points 18 hours ago

When I get a song stuck (which happens constantly) I don't hear it; I just have the unrelenting urge to sing it.

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[–] otacon239@lemmy.world 3 points 17 hours ago* (last edited 17 hours ago)

I’ve definitely had the internal thoughts “leak” like you’re describing. I tend to think in almost another space outside of myself where sometimes I will forget my senses and have to actively return to them. Like I’m walking away briefly from the drivers seat to go take care of something in the back of the truck. I tend not to do this with others around as it can be rude. With others, I’m much more stream of consciousness.

[–] UltraGiGaGigantic@lemmy.ml 3 points 17 hours ago* (last edited 17 hours ago) (2 children)

My thoughts are the bald guy from the six flags dancing 24/7 to the song from the commercial.

[–] lemmyknow@lemmy.today 1 points 12 hours ago

The Vengabus… is coming.

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[–] RBWells@lemmy.world 9 points 22 hours ago (1 children)

I do have thoughts in words, language. I don't exactly hear or see it but it's definitely language based. Often two levels of thought, one superficial and another underneath, thinking about those superficial thoughts.

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[–] cRazi_man@europe.pub 12 points 1 day ago (5 children)

I'm at about level 2 on this scale:

My thoughts are a lot of imagery imagination. There are "words" to go along with it, but there certainly isn't an extensive monologue/narrative/conversation going on.

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[–] Kennystillalive@feddit.org 12 points 1 day ago

For me it's often like watching a movie and lots of 3rd person monolologue as well as one wierd idea after the other popping up and going.

I often alao have interviews with myself how I just killed it in certaim situations and do play by play analysis from these events.

When in public settings I often play in my mind some wierd social games: where I try to find the mood of others and react to what they do (kinda like a dating sim).

I also like to go back to past events and analyse what I could have done better and memorize what to do in a future convo.

Since I speak more than one language my thoughts change languages. When I consume or produce in a certain language my brain is basically in that language and all my thoughts are in that language.

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