Jan 1, 2026 09:02 PM
https://www.sciencefocus.com/wellbeing/i...endophasia
EXCERPTS: Most of us experience an inner voice at some point. We might call it an internal monologue, thinking in words or talking in our head; psychologists call it ‘inner speech’. But there’s growing evidence that some people have no inner voice at all.
“I have no speech or words in my mind whatsoever. It’s always been that way for me,” says Jesse Koski, a 34-year-old who lives in Finland. “I’d always assumed that other people’s minds worked in the same way as mine.”
Psychologists recently coined a term for this phenomenon – ‘anendophasia’ – and now they’re trying to understand how common it is and how it affects those who experience it.
In the process, they’re revealing new insights into our minds’ innermost workings. If you’ve ever had thoughts that feel like language or words, that’s inner speech. It might feel like hearing a voice, or more like internal speaking.
It might be in your own voice or someone else’s; a solitary voice or multiple; a monologue or conversation; a full sentence (“I must remember to thank my aunt for my socks”) or a condensed phrase (“aunt socks”).
Inner speech helps us in all kinds of situations, from making decisions and solving problems to planning tasks and managing impulses. We might use it to run through past or future conversations, or to daydream and fantasise.
[...] “People tend to assume that inner speech is universal,” says Dr Johanne Nedergaard at the University of Copenhagen, in Denmark. “But we’re becoming more aware of just how different our inner experiences can be.”
[...] “These findings suggest that lacking inner speech has real, behavioural consequences,” says Nedergaard. “Interestingly, when participants with less inner speech said the words out loud, their performance in the tasks matched the other group. So externalising thoughts – either by talking aloud or writing things down – is likely to be one coping strategy that people use in their daily lives.”
[...] It was a lightbulb moment for Koski when he discovered via an online video that other people have an inner voice. “When I used to watch movies that voiced a character’s inner monologue, I just thought they were doing it for effect,” he says.
“I didn’t realise people actually experienced that. My mind was blown.”
He says that his lack of inner speech doesn’t mean a lack of thoughts; it’s just that his thoughts don’t involve language.
“If you think of the mind as an ocean,” he says, “then each of my thoughts feels like a bubble rising into my consciousness. Inside the bubble is a combination of concepts, images and feelings, but no words or speech.” (MORE - missing details)
EXCERPTS: Most of us experience an inner voice at some point. We might call it an internal monologue, thinking in words or talking in our head; psychologists call it ‘inner speech’. But there’s growing evidence that some people have no inner voice at all.
“I have no speech or words in my mind whatsoever. It’s always been that way for me,” says Jesse Koski, a 34-year-old who lives in Finland. “I’d always assumed that other people’s minds worked in the same way as mine.”
Psychologists recently coined a term for this phenomenon – ‘anendophasia’ – and now they’re trying to understand how common it is and how it affects those who experience it.
In the process, they’re revealing new insights into our minds’ innermost workings. If you’ve ever had thoughts that feel like language or words, that’s inner speech. It might feel like hearing a voice, or more like internal speaking.
It might be in your own voice or someone else’s; a solitary voice or multiple; a monologue or conversation; a full sentence (“I must remember to thank my aunt for my socks”) or a condensed phrase (“aunt socks”).
Inner speech helps us in all kinds of situations, from making decisions and solving problems to planning tasks and managing impulses. We might use it to run through past or future conversations, or to daydream and fantasise.
[...] “People tend to assume that inner speech is universal,” says Dr Johanne Nedergaard at the University of Copenhagen, in Denmark. “But we’re becoming more aware of just how different our inner experiences can be.”
[...] “These findings suggest that lacking inner speech has real, behavioural consequences,” says Nedergaard. “Interestingly, when participants with less inner speech said the words out loud, their performance in the tasks matched the other group. So externalising thoughts – either by talking aloud or writing things down – is likely to be one coping strategy that people use in their daily lives.”
[...] It was a lightbulb moment for Koski when he discovered via an online video that other people have an inner voice. “When I used to watch movies that voiced a character’s inner monologue, I just thought they were doing it for effect,” he says.
“I didn’t realise people actually experienced that. My mind was blown.”
He says that his lack of inner speech doesn’t mean a lack of thoughts; it’s just that his thoughts don’t involve language.
“If you think of the mind as an ocean,” he says, “then each of my thoughts feels like a bubble rising into my consciousness. Inside the bubble is a combination of concepts, images and feelings, but no words or speech.” (MORE - missing details)