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Why our own voices in our heads?


BrainMan

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Why is that when I think to myself, I do so in my own voice? Why not someone elses voice? There is no logical reason why I could not think with a different voice, yet I don't (and, in fact, I really can't).

 

Does anyone else here NOT think with thier own voice? Can you, if you try hard, consistently think to yourself with someone else's voice without imagining another person speaking it to you? I've found that I can't without great effort, and even then only for very short periods of time before I automatically flip to my own voice. Anyone else claim to be different? In any event, why do you think that is?

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Does anyone else here NOT think with thier own voice?
Yes. When I think, I do not "hear" a voice, just the words, most likely because thinking simply stimulates the part of one's mind that comes (temporally) after the "audio signal processing" section that lets one understand the spoken word.

 

In any event, why do you think that is?
<sarcasm> Stop talking out loud when you think and the problem will stop. </sarcasm>
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Yeah, when I hear the words in my head, I can't pinpoint who's voice it has, it is just there. The reason it may get interpreted as your voice is because everyone has there own speaking style, and when I think, that style is present. Like when I speak, I exaggerate my "yeahs" alot, and when I think, the same thing happens.

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Yeah, I really meant an experience of "speaking style" rather than an actual voice. But still, it does seem to have some "voice-like" quality about it. It is easily recognized as "my own" though, and that is what I don't understand. Why? How could I possibly recognize such a generated speech like process as my own if I don't actually say it out loud? Schizophrenics hear voices of other people speeking to them, and we now know that such "voices" are internally generated- the schizophrenics simply don't regonize the voices as their own. So what is so different about us normals that we *can* recognize such internally generated speech?

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If you put effort i'm sure you could change your head voice.

 

Hey does anyone have this? At the end of a busy day, lying down to bed, you can hear buzzes of voices like a crowd? Every once in a while certain familiar voices pop out of the crowd saying, usually random things. After letting the buzz go on for a while i can even make familiar voices say what i think them to say.

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Normally, it's my own voice doing the narrating in my world, but other voices take over for a while. I've had Patrick Stewart, my best friend, Nandaba Kamon from p'FLCL' and just about everyone else take the wheel for a while. Usually, it's either my own voice or the last voice I heard before slinking into solitude.

 

But I have a very hard time thinking without at least some voice. Weird.

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when im reading this thread, theres just a voice, i just asociate it with words, not with a certain voice, just a thought, no sound, therfore i dont compare it to the sounds we make

 

by the way for italics its :

 

[ i ] text [ / i ]

 

minus all the spaces :D

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I think as words, not so much a voice. Actually I dont think words really. Its kind of difficult to explain, but I talk as if im typing something out, while i think as if i copy an paste. My thoughts are instant, so i dont really talk in my head.

 

I think I know what you mean, I tried to 'think' using the way you are describing, but it didn't work. Usually, I think and I hear my own voice in my head. Sometimes, I hear another voice narrating for me, sometimes it's the voice of Colin Farrell :P but I don't think I am Schizophrenic. lol

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Could it simply be due to the fact that via repetition we hear our own vioce in our heads? The vioce you hear most often, with very little exception is your own, so you should logically be driven to use it when speaking "to yourself".

 

Just think, when you speak in your head it sounds as your vioce does to you, not as it does to others. Record yourself and listen to your voice. It sounds different than how you percieve your own vioce. You speak in your head however you hear your voice not how it actually sounds. It's not some spiffy supernatural occurance. Just repetition.

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Oh yeah its definately not supernatural. but its an interesting subject. I've noticed that i can sort of try to imagine voices, but its not like a real complete voice. Guess my imagination just isn't that good?

 

Hey do you think it would be possible to make yourself actually hear noises within your head? Theoretically it would be pretty simple, just being able to activate memory of noises and play them as if they were actually occuring. Kind of like a controlled scizofrenia. that would be really cool.------ could also be very useful when singing acapella if you could fool yourself to hearing an accopyment. I think some singers can do this to an extent

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when reading I hear a mental voice, a bit like reading aloud to myself (if that makes sense).

when I`m thinking I think in pictures mostly, but changing that mental "voice" is quite easy for me, much the same way that when I listen to a favorite song in my head, I hear the music and the original singers voice.

 

but when reading, unless I deliberately change the mental voice, it`s always very similar to my own too.

 

oh yeah, and one of the reasons we sound different on tape is beacause when we listen to ourselves talk, we hear resonance from our sinus cavities too, on tape, that resonance isn`t there :)

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When I read your post I "heard" the voice of someone else because someone else wrote it.....

 

When I read fiction, I give the characters different "voices"

 

But theres really no voice at all, actually now when I think about it its completely atonal and any "sound" is just from the emotional effect conveyed in the words.

 

LIKE IF I TYPE LIKE THIS DO YOU HEAR ME SHOUTING?

 

Edit: no that didn't really work, I think I needed to use some swear words and violent remarks, perhaps some references to your mom aswell, then you'd "hear" me shouting.

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  • 1 year later...

lol .. that yelling part actually got to me because i was interpreting everything i'm reading therefore causing me to read slow ... well that idea about mental voice really clarified some of my ideas. If you actually listen carefully ... You'll notice that your mental voice is simillar to you whispering to yourself and ADDED an emotion ... for example if you just failed a test and your softly whispering to yourself "damn man .." Now repeat that in your mind .. you'll notice it sounds so familiar but there is something that you can't seem to put your finger on. A mental voice you don't hear with vibrations ... Let me try to be less abstract and try to be formal. Pretend I'm putting the way you sound on a scale from Weird to Normal. Speaking voice, mental voice, hearing yourself talk. .. Perhaps your mental voice is half way to hearing your real voice.. Or perhaps i'm just crazy and you wasted your time reading haha

 

this subject is a killer :D

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I can change what voice I think in, but I prefer to think in my own voice. It's at a regular volume and and gets as high as my real voice does if I'm excited about something. I'm able to bring any sound to mind or adjust it as I see fit. I think because I used to play the clarinet and I always thought about what something would sound like before I played it. When I'm reading, the mental voice has a volume to it until I'm really into the book and it no longer has a sound at all, it's just words.

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Illusion of moving your voice in your mind

 

 

How to Move Your Internal Voice

 

Correlational Holographic Opponent Processing can be illustrated in almost every sensory system. A simple illustration of correlational holographic opponent processing can be accomplished with the following procedure: take your fists and put these side by side: Press them firmly together for one minute; since your fists are touching each other and you have made the pressure equal, the situation is correlated; this balance illustrates Correlational Holographic Opponent Processing. After pressing your fists together, quickly pull them a part an inch and hold them there. You will notice that your fists seems to be attracted toward each other like a magnet!

 

More illustrations of Correlational Holographic Opponent Processing. Stare at a small picture of the American flag then look at a gray or white piece of paper and see the colors of the flag reverse for a short period of time. For those a little braver have someone pour cold water in your ear and you will feel like you are outside your body.

 

You can move your internal voice by using the following procedures. Stick your finger in front of your nose with arm extended. Focus your eyes on the finger and shut your eyes and stay Hello quietly without any sound. Now locate your voice in your mind by using the following graph system.

 

(Y) 8

 

7

 

6 >>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Å>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Å>>>>>>>>>

 

5

 

4

 

3>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>+>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

 

2

 

1>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>î>>>>>>_>>>>>>>>>>>þ

 

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 (X)

 

The average person locates their internal voice at y=2.64 s =1.11 x=5.57 s =3.35 n=14 .

 

You can now move this internal voice my moving your arm toward your right. Keep your head straight but move your eyes in focus toward your finger with the extended arm. Now stay Hello quietly without any sound. Now locate your voice in your mind by using the following graph system. You will notice that your voiced moved. Individuals who speak different languages will report different patterns depending upon which language they are using. When the voices of different languages move they will not cross another language. This observation supports Correlational Holographic Opponent Processing via wavelets. For more information go to http://u2ai.us .

 

Our internal voice is different from our actual voice. It is likely that when they are the same we stutter. Stuttering can be eliminated in 90% of the people with no training when you use hearing aids to raise the sound you hear by one octave.

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  • 2 weeks later...
Why is that when I think to myself, I do so in my own voice? Why not someone elses voice? There is no logical reason why I could not think with a different voice, ?

 

 

As I see it when we think we are not physicaly hearing anything rather acknowledging our own thought processes.

If you tape record yourself speaking then often than not you will say "that's not me is it?" when you hear it.

When you hear someone elses voice then your brain has mapped out the nuences of the sound of that particular person and will often confirm it's recognition with a mental picture of the person.

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when reading I hear a mental voice' date=' a bit like reading aloud to myself (if that makes sense).

when I`m thinking I think in pictures mostly, but changing that mental "voice" is quite easy for me, much the same way that when I listen to a favorite song in my head, I hear the music and the original singers voice.

 

but when reading, unless I deliberately change the mental voice, it`s always very similar to my own too.

 

oh yeah, and one of the reasons we sound different on tape is beacause when we listen to ourselves talk, we hear resonance from our sinus cavities too, on tape, that resonance isn`t there :)[/quote']

 

This is the same for me. (and I feel really awkward when I hear myself on type. I think I sound weird)

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I read this and got myself a little theory, here goes:

 

Whenever you speak (and I mean EVERY time), your brain remembers/predicts the sound it hears. You learn to associate this sound with the mental processes that went on in order to create it. Later you can skip the vocalization and recall/predict the sound that you would have heard. Then the part of your brain that processes spoken words can still be active on that memory/prediction. Personally I find that I think differently depending on the method of input, and speaking to myself helps me think a bit more logically.

 

I'm sure you'll find that with practice you can think with ANY voice, even create one for yourself. I bet it would help if you're trying to imitate a style as well; I wouldn't be surprized if actors do that.

 

I remember a time when I was having problems with my teeth (before and durring braces, yuck!), and I would get annoyed when I'd be reading a get stopped on something that I would have a hard time saying, even though I was reading to myself!

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