Why does your thinking (or internal) voice sound like your external voice?
In: 11
>ELI5: Why does your thinking (or internal) voice sound like your external voice?
There is no universal standardized internal monologue. Your internal voice is unique and so is everybody else’s. In fact, many people do not have an internal monologue **at all** – there’s no voice.
It is based on the same vocal production system that you use to produce the sounds of your voice when you speak out loud. When you think to yourself, your brain activates the same neural pathways and muscles that are used when you produce speech, and this process is automatic and unconscious. Essentially, your brain is “playing back” the sounds of your own voice just as if you were speaking out loud.
This isn’t an explanation, but can add to the thought process behind it.
When I was a kid I couldn’t say my ‘r’ sound in words like (world, squirrel, girl) pretty common. Well I corrected it at around age 8 or 9. But still to this day 20 years later, I have trouble saying those words in my internal monologue. As a matter of fact I pretty much can’t say them properly in my head. I still have that speech impediment in my head, but I’ve tricked my tongue into saying it the right way when speaking out loud
Latest Answers