I interviewed Kirsten Carlson, a PA Student at Francis Marion University, who is one of the few people that do not have an internal monologue. She does not h...
there's also the separate issue of aphantasia. I asked some co workers to imagine a coffee cup in their "mind's eye." They all did so, except one guy. Then I asked them what color the coffee cup was. They all had different answers. One of my coworkers said he wasn't able to visualize things in his mind like that and found it bizarre not only that we were able to close our eyes and "see" a coffee cup, but also give it a color, and so on. So not only do some people lack an internal monologue, some aren't able to visualize either. I think there's much more to it than the words being used, and I don't see it as a disability necessarily, since there are drawbacks to having a vivid imagination, such as being distracted by your own thoughts easily when you're trying to work or listen to someone else.
oh no I believe it's a real thing, I simply think internal thoughts might sometimes be very idiosyncratic and not easily explained from one person to another. I'm not a doctor or anything though.
found it bizarre not only that we were able to close our eyes and “see” a coffee cup, but also give it a color, and so on
It is weird that you can do that though, it's just that the majority of people are like you.
There definitely are advantages to aphantasia (not being free from distraction though sadly), some STEM fields and especially coding have aphants very overrepresented. I guess some kinds of abstract reasoning must be less natural when your thinking is anchored in visuals.
there's also the separate issue of aphantasia. I asked some co workers to imagine a coffee cup in their "mind's eye." They all did so, except one guy. Then I asked them what color the coffee cup was. They all had different answers. One of my coworkers said he wasn't able to visualize things in his mind like that and found it bizarre not only that we were able to close our eyes and "see" a coffee cup, but also give it a color, and so on. So not only do some people lack an internal monologue, some aren't able to visualize either. I think there's much more to it than the words being used, and I don't see it as a disability necessarily, since there are drawbacks to having a vivid imagination, such as being distracted by your own thoughts easily when you're trying to work or listen to someone else.
oh no I believe it's a real thing, I simply think internal thoughts might sometimes be very idiosyncratic and not easily explained from one person to another. I'm not a doctor or anything though.
It is weird that you can do that though, it's just that the majority of people are like you.
There definitely are advantages to aphantasia (not being free from distraction though sadly), some STEM fields and especially coding have aphants very overrepresented. I guess some kinds of abstract reasoning must be less natural when your thinking is anchored in visuals.
interesting! I wouldn't have guessed that! The one guy at our job with aphantasia was a comp science major.
I can see why that would be useful for coding, yeah. Thanks for sharing.