Hi, i dont really know anyone on this forum, i can usually been seen waiting around the extraterrestrial forum, occasionally making a few post here and there. I dont really know much about UFO's etc, but i can say that have a much stronger knowledge on the human mind/brain.

Something that ive been thinking about recently is what is known as our Inner Voice. We've all got one of course. You know, the voice you here in your head when you read, afer you've just been told not to read out loud, or the voice you here in your head when your sitting an exam. (obviously you cannot read quesions out loud in that situation). It would seem this voice is fundamentally important to human thinking, without it how would we think exactly.

Its the voice, and powerful thinking that has enabled us to build complex structures, or solve complicated equations, send rockets into space... the list goes on.

My point is, how would this apply to animals etc, obviously they do not have their own language like we do, and i really cannot imagine a dog for example, having an inner voice that barks.

This is the difference between us, and every other living creature. I really dont know how we could live the lives we do without thinking with our inner voice.

What do you think ?

If you mean an inner voice that thinks in words - for example, reading to oneself as you brought up - I don't think every person has that either. I don't "hear" words when I read to myself, I see pictures. Thought is thought - not a voice - and is different for everyone. I think animals do experience inner thought, but probably in smells, images, perhaps tastes, not words (since they don't have any).

well, prove that every other living creature does not think. whales have their own language inwhich they all understand, as do dolphins.
and also that whale that has come up with a new way of catching sea birds, by making bait to attract sea birds. I'd consider that be have been through thinking and planning.

so I beleive every creature thinks, because thinking isn't only about words.

its how wolves hunt, how monkey and apes keep entertained and also how and where to
get food to eat.

Im not saying animals dont think, im more questioning HOW they think, i know thought is thought, but when humans are planning to do something we might think, using our inner voice, "I must not forget to do this".. if we didnt have an inner voice, how would we think about planning to do something for the future for example. I know animals such as dolphins are said to be quite clever, but what about the less intelligent creatures such as dogs, cats, birds... they have no language of there own, and as i said, i find it difficult to comprhend that animals actually think without an inner voice.

Dont think this is really relevant to the thread, but I have this 'voice' for everything. Im constantly 'talking' to myself in my mind- its just the way I think. Its as if Im talking to someone else but directing everything I saw towards me. Bit difficult to explain but there you go

well, just because we have an 'inner voice' means not that other animals have to have one. we think because we have a language that lets us to. thats not to mean other animals have their own sort of language.

however primitive it may be.

if you're questioning HOW they think, you'll never know because there is no way TO know.

but if thought is limited to words, how do people without a language think? or ppl that use sign language?

maybe i don't get it, i dunno.

If animals have the ability to have conscious thoughts or plan their actions, they probably do it in pictures. You know... the wolf seeing itself going into that rock cave when the blizzard gets too bad, the lion planning out his attack on an antelope visually in his brain.

I'm not saying they do this, but I would guess that would be how its done.

""i know thought is thought, but when humans are planning to do something we might think, using our inner voice, "I must not forget to do this".. if we didnt have an inner voice, how would we think about planning to do something for the future for example""

I plan in pictures as well. Actually, I find things easier to remember if I make them a picture (image of me walking into library with the book bag for example instead of telling myself "Go to the library this evening!") Of course I'm perfectly capapble of thinking in words and do talk to myself often
Another thing...

No, its a good point, maybe i'm the one who is missing the point. I just feel like, if i didnt have a voice in my mind to work things out etc, then i would struggle with things such as brain teasers etc. You know when your given a mathematical puzzle to workout for example, you would sit there, and in your mind you would say something like, "right, 672 minus this number equals... " Or if your an architect for example you wouldnt constantly work out building plans by saying it out loud, you would sit down at your desk and think "right, these bricks are being put here...." So you would be working things out in ur mind, using ur inner voice.

I know thinking isnt limited to just thinking in words, but i think its what makes us so different to other animals, with regard to what us as humans can build etc.

Also do people who deaf from birth think differently from people who arent. Right now as i type this, im saying it in my mind, how would they do this if they havent heard a voice before ?

they would picture the words, probably.
in all seriousness, if you know someone who is deaf, you could ask them.

i suppose that what it boils down to (correct me if i'm wrong) is that you can't comprehend how someone who thinks in a different process than you do thinks. that's the way it is with everyone. me, i can't comprehend thinking in pictures, but someone else does and can't understand how i think the way i do.

it's all in the experience, i guess.

I guess its just another mystery of the human mind

i think a man can manage without inner voice as well. Its something like the case of personal artistry...

you think we gained this 'inner voice' through our primal ages. I mean, man fears to be alone and often, while hunting and gathering we'd be alone. so this 'inner voice' was something like a comfort blanket, comforting us by letting us feel as we're not alone.

or something :\

Try looking up "multiple intelligences" It's a theory about how we think and learn stuff, it talks about thinking in words and pictures.

Some people read stuff and see pictures, or movies in their mind. Others read stuff and hear words in their mind.

I for one hear words, and I can't comprehend thinking in pictures while I read (even though I can think in pictures while doing other things) but people who think in pictures can't comprehend thinking in words.


It's really weird thinking about how different people think, like how I might be reading this thread and thinking "Blah blah blah" while someone else is thinking *picture* *picture* *picture*

I'm sure that animals think in pictures, and as they don't have to read or write they have any need for an inner voice.

yeah, I reckon that makes sense. I kinda think in both ways for some things, sometimes even both at once.

but yeah, animals thinking in pictures makes a lot of sense, as they have no words to think in speech.