You have a voice in your head?

[stickygirl]

One of those wtf moments from a random Insta post that had me searching the web.

Some people have a voice in their head when they read but some people don't! This isn't a judgement - no one will be burnt at the stake, it's just strange how we each navigate the world. I do recall reading that centuries ago a monk was observed reading without his lips moving, to the consternation of others.
So describe what's going on in your head when you read, just for fun and science.

 

[AwkwardlySet]

No voice. I just process words.

 

[YmaOHyd]

Sometimes yes, sometimes no. The more into the reading I am, the more likely I am to hear it.

 

[Nowackosplease2]

I’m a very creative person and a photographer. When I read books there is a movie in my head and half the time I don’t remember reading the words on the page.

 

[TheLobster]

I do recall reading that centuries ago a monk was observed reading without his lips moving, to the consternation of others.

A word of warning about drawing wrong conclusion from this anecdote. While it may very well be true, the "consternation" probably wasn't so much about the practice of reading silently being much harder than it is currently (it was slightly harder, because lettering was ornate and less readable, but at least in Middle Ages words already had spaces), but rather about social conventions around reading as an activity. More about it here.

So describe what's going on in your head when you read, just for fun and science.

I do subvocalize most of the time. More so in English, not so much in my native language.

 

[alohadave]

So describe what's going on in your head when you read, just for fun and science.

Depends on whether or not I'm in the flow. Out of the flow, I tend to read along "out loud" in my head. In the flow, I barely see the words, and don't narrate in my head.

 

[IWroteThis]

Not only do I have a voice in my head when I read, I tend to have multiple voices. The most common is just different male and female voices, but when reading fanfiction or adaptations, I tend to hear the words in the character's voice.

 

[MelissaBaby]

Slightly off topic, but one of my clients, a diagnosed schizophrenic, told me that he has made a major breakthrough in his therapy. He said, "I realized that just because the voices in my head tell me to do something, that doesn't mean I have to do it. I don't do what anyone else tells me, why should I listen to them?"

 

[M_K_Babalon]

Slightly off topic, but one of my clients, a diagnosed schizophrenic, told me that he has made a major breakthrough in his therapy. He said, "I realized that just because the voices in my head tell me to do something, that doesn't mean I have to do it. I don't do what anyone else tells me, why should I listen to them?"

Has he seen that movie about the scientist?

 

[Comshaw]

Slightly off topic, but one of my clients, a diagnosed schizophrenic, told me that he has made a major breakthrough in his therapy. He said, "I realized that just because the voices in my head tell me to do something, that doesn't mean I have to do it. I don't do what anyone else tells me, why should I listen to them?"

Doesn't EVERYONE do that???

Comshaw

 

[hugh_jarce69]

I have a voice in my head when I read. I struggle to concentrate when I have some other noises going on outside, such as TV or radio.
I have a voice in my head when I write too.

I have to read every single word otherwise I haven’t fully taken it all in too.

My wife, on the other hand reads about twice as fast as me. I asked her once how she reads and she told me she doesn’t actually read the whole of a word, she just reads most of it and moves onto the next one.
Her Dad does the same!!!
Freaks!

 

[Bazzle]

What I struggle with is the stroke fiction on here.

I need the words to set the scene for me to visualise the scene. So, I see the 'movie' of the words as I read, I often forget the words... until an error throws me out. So, yes, I have a voice.

 

[Five_Inch_Heels]

A voice??


Sorry, but it's kind of hard to pick just one out.

 

[SmilingLez]

One of those wtf moments from a random Insta post that had me searching the web.

Some people have a voice in their head when they read but some people don't! This isn't a judgement - no one will be burnt at the stake, it's just strange how we each navigate the world. I do recall reading that centuries ago a monk was observed reading without his lips moving, to the consternation of others.
So describe what's going on in your head when you read, just for fun and science.

I definitely have a voice in my head. I can change genders as well as accents. Also, my internal narrator is my harshest critic. YMMV

 

[MelissaBaby]

Has he seen that movie about the scientist?

I doubt that he watches any movies about scientists unless they live in a secret lair and are plotting to take over the world.

 

[MelissaBaby]

Doesn't EVERYONE do that???

Comshaw

If they are schizophrenic, probably not.

 

[M_K_Babalon]

I doubt that he watches any movies about scientists unless they live in a secret lair and are plotting to take over the world.

I can't remember the movies name, but it's about a real nuclear physisist that had the same affliction and lived witg it, without meds his whole life. Eternal Memory Of The Spotless Sunshine, or some shit like that.

 

[stickygirl]

ooops I posted a misleading analogy

 

[MelissaBaby]

I can't remember the movies name, but it's about a real nuclear physisist that had the same affliction and lived witg it, without meds his whole life. Eternal Memory Of The Spotless Sunshine, or some shit like that.

Many schizophrenics live normal lives without medication, but as has been explained to me, it requires that they make precisely the breakthrough my client described.

I am really pulling for this guy. He was on the street since he was a teenager. He should have gotten mental health care then, and not been swept up into the legal system.

 

[hugh_jarce69]

This is amazing - keep going folks. This is almost like someone saying they can see colours other people can't

Hahaha yeah it’s like that social media craze of that dress. Some people saw some colours and others saw different

 

[stickygirl]

Now some folks have posted, I'll add my own experience. I don't have a voice in my head when I read, but yes, I am easily distracted by background noise while I do.
However, when I'm writing I certainly have voices, normally with accents and intonations, stresses and laughter... like being at the movies.

 

[SyleusSnow]

The only voice in my head is one that pops up when I'm writing, telling me I'm terrible and to give up

 

[ChiffonCupCake]

As I read well crafted stories, I find that I adopt the personalities of the characters as their roles and dialog are exposed. It's a bit different from having multiple voices in my head as the prose flows through me. It's more like becoming the character while they are in focus in the writing.

At times, my mind will wander off away from the story and I find It might be staring blankly at words several pages ahead. Invariably, I'll go back a few pages and restart from where I wanderied off into my own thoughts.

There are books that I have read many times as I enjoy becoming the characters so much and being part of the story. Certain authors have the ability to captivate my attention and my thought processes.

 

[OddLove]

I hear myself when I think, read, write, ect. When I first found out some people don't have constant internal dialog it blew my mind because I almost never have silence in my mind.

Every thought that pops up in my head is in my own voice, but it's hard to explain. It doesn't 'sound' like my voice, it just is my voice. It's not loud or quiet, it's just always there. It's doesn't get tired, it doesn't take breaks.

Like if I just look at a cloud, I can get sucked into a ten minute conversation with myself, "Oh dang, that's a dark cloud... it must have lots of water in it. I mean, shit... that's a whole ass lake in the sky. Imagine if it just collapsed all at once. I bet it would kill everyone under. I mean, we already know a water fall can fuck us up, and we know people die from landing on water. So it would just be like landing head first on a lake of water from thousands of feet up, but upside down."

And another weird thing is when I'm talking to myself in my head, I can tell when my thoughts are 'on my side' because when I start talking to myself I'll be addressing Me, I, Us, as You instead, like "Yeah, no shit dumbass. Of course that didn't work out. You should've known better. Every time you try to bake something you just throw fifty dollars in the trash. You should just go buy some fucking donuts and give up."
It's like a narrator is following me around narrating my entire awake life. The only time I don't have internal dialogs is when I dream. And the very few times I did have internal dialog in a dream, I immediately noticed something strange things like mirrors not reflecting or all the books are blank, and then I realize I'm dreaming a wake up. Then blammo, my narrator chimes in like, "Holy shit, that was weird."

 

[Tio_Narratore]

When I read poetry I generally hear it spoken or intoned in my mind. Except for e e cummings, one of my favorites; I see most of his poems as a picture or gestalt image. I hear a lot of fiction as well, and see some of it. I don't generally hear non-fiction; I tend to read that as phrases rather than words, and see meanings and senses in it rather than strings of words. When I write, I hear it as well as see and feel it, often repeatedly, as I tend to review and edit in my mind before and after hitting the keyboard.

By the way, when I was an undergrad, I had a prof who didn't dream her dreams; she would dream a typewriter and read her dream as the pages came rolling up the platen.