Talking to oneself

[lnsdf]

I quite often find that I talk to myself a fair bit. One thing I have noticed is that whenever I am mulling over some problem or question and seeking a solution/answer I tend to use my own verbal feedback to make thoughts and ideas more clear. I suppose it works as a sort of refinement process. This process seems to be even more prevalent when I am situated in a location where I am really my only information source. For example, say I am working on some project of mine at home and have it in front of me. If I were to go on a walk outside then I would still have that project on my mind and would likely talk all about it to myself the whole time.

Not only that, when I am in my own sort of verbal refinement mode it seems that most other things fall into the background and aren't really noticed much.

One theory I have as to what is going on is that one part of my cognition is able to communicate more directly to another part through verbal means. Namely I speculate that my Ti is highly active when I am right there and have all the information in front of me so it is doing most of the work. When I am away from the information it becomes easier for my Ne to want to come out and intuitively piece together what has been taken in and thought about. The means to feed Ne is through speech: Ti talks and Ne listens. Seriously, it is almost as if when I talk to myself there is more then one person present (this is not related to schizophrenia, the only voice I hear is my own when I am speaking).

I have had times where I just couldn't think of a solution to certain problem for the life of me but as soon as I simply read aloud what I was thinking I ended up seeing what was missing. This to me is evidence which supports my theory.

I wonder, does anyone else here do anything like this? I'm curious as to whether this is somewhat of an INTP thing or not. I also wonder if my theory seems feasible or not.

 

[Evolutionmine16]

I am an introvert, most definitely. But I find myself talking just to fill the void of social absence. I talk to myself not just because I wish to understand my thoughts, but also to fool myself into thinking I am not alone. Maybe that sounds insane, I don't care. I'm only insane if I answer my questions... wait... I do answer my own questions...

 

[cheese]

This got too long and speculative.

Summary: I do this a lot; I think it helps process information to completion which is needed in Ps (info-gatherers, rather than closure-seekers) so it's sort of like our hack towards Jness; I think the feeling of not being alone when talking to oneself is a result of hemisphere interaction; lastly, anecdotalblahs which provided more speculative material.

This is an interesting topic for me as I haven't found many people who do this to the same degree I do (or who do it at all, beyond a few occasional muttered comments).

Spoiler

It's interesting that you say it feeds Ne - I think this may indeed be the case, in that it helps close the Ne-Si loop. (Not that all self-talk involves Ne-Si, just that I suspect that's one of its primary purposes in NPs.) I think it's possible we may be aiding communication between the two hemispheres of the brain. Speech is primarily/entirely controlled by the left hemisphere of the brain. (Not all language - the right is also capable of comprehension, but cannot produce speech. See split-brain patients.) Speculation: Ne is a more right brain process and Si a left brain one. Verbalising cements the information loop between Ne and Si - Ne feeds the left brain, which produces speech, which feeds the left and right, which creates more for Ne to feed back to Si and vice-versa, etc etc. It creates a self-sustaining energy, at least until the self feels satisfied the information has been thoroughly processed. Sort of like chewing cud.

I talked to myself every day as a kid. It helped me process things. There was such a huge amount of detail and energy I had to go through that it was necessary, I think. As time went on I fell out of it and eventually developed depression and an extremely 'noisy' head. I started it up again, through writing and occasionally talking out loud, and it *always* helps. It turns the noise into facts I can observe, and gives the amorphous brain goo some much-needed form. I think it's a way for all the information and patterns and energy Ne has gathered by absorbing information throughout the day to get slotted neatly (rather than dumped wholesale) into Si through speech. For you, speaking aloud helps you identify solutions you didn't see before, so perhaps speech helped present information to Ne in novel ways (in terms of organisation), which allowed it to see novel solutions.

I know what you mean about feeling someone else is there too. I know it's no one but me but somehow I feel I'm two people, only not quite. It's hard to capture in words what it feels like. I don't feel alone, but I know without doubt I'm alone. But I'm not alone by myself. I have the part of me who talks and the part of me who listens. They're not separate people, but there are two, though not exactly. (Perhaps this is how we resolve the great mystery of the Trinity!)

I think again that this is more active communication between the two hemispheres. In split brain patients the right hemisphere can comprehend speech, but cannot respond in speech. The left however does produce speech. (Also, it tends to make up explanations on the fly when the right brain makes the body do something and the left has no access to the actual reasons. It's the post-hoc justifier, and it believes its own bull, apparently. This is fascinating stuff. I think most if not all discussion, as well as thought life and all life in general, gets bogged down in this shit.) The two hemispheres acted independently when not connected by the corpus callosum; neither side knew what the other was doing. You might say we're each two separate people who happen to be connected. This could explain the feeling of being listened to even while knowing that we're the only ones there (as 'we' are both speech-producing and non-speech-producing hemispheres). We can both feel that we're listening and feel that we're being listened to.

You might find bicameralism interesting. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bicameralism_(psychology)
It's essentially the hypothesis that for a long time people weren't fully conscious - they experienced one hemisphere's information as a god doling out commandments (the 'speaking' hemisphere) that the other hemisphere (the 'listen and obey' hemisphere) would feel compelled to carry out. This accounts for prophecies, visions, religiosity, etc - the psychological remnants of which are present today in schizophrenia etc.

(! I just had an insight about the other thread regarding work/childcare/attention-redirection/depression!)

In extremely emotional or stressful situations I and other Ps I've met sometimes become unable to speak. After a while we become unable to think in words at all and just completely blank, or become only feelings. Right brain = more feeling side? Cos as soon as I start producing again, my mind calms down and starts churning out logic and facts again. I feel more detached and rational, and mentally organised.

Selective mutism = left brain malfunction?

Overactive hemisphere can cause short-circuit of other?

Or perhaps it's the result of abuse of a kind? Could abuse damage the communication between hemispheres, especially conscious control of the left brain, if speech is consistently prevented? So when states of similar arousal (extreme stress) occur, the left brain is cut off from emotions to prevent the danger of speaking them aloud?

Also, regarding mood - talking about it is supposed to be incredibly helpful. Why is that (is there a reason beyond therapy/breaking the closed loop of self-talk)? Is that because of the left brain's ability to rationalise and create linear narratives out of experiences? Or is it because it completes a required information feedback loop? (ie without talking about it, the feelings and non-verbal thoughts remain incompletely processed by the right brain and the left brain not working at full capacity)

Ok I have to stop here. I'd clean this up but I've got work to do. I'm in a more upbeat mood at the moment so it's hard to herd my thoughts effectively. I have more to say but no time; however if I don't post this I never will, and I'm trying to follow through on things.

 

[meanbluepanda]

I don't consciously talk to myself, it just sometimes happens when I go too deep in my mind. Let's say am thinking about something, I usually starting imagining objects and myself talking about and examining things. If I think too hard I end up talking in real life without realizing it. This also happens if am imagining a situation, I also start saying what am saying in my brain in real life.

 

[Missfortune]

I talk to myself a lot in lab, late at night. Lack of exposure to some kind of social life?

Probably.

Plus I can tell myself stuff that i wouldn't say to another person.

 

[Alex_]

I do talk to myself quite often. I live by myself and rarely go out, and the self-talking is becoming more frequent over the years. There must be some relation with time spent alone. D:

I kinda like it. While it doesn't spread to social situations, I'm fine with it.

Spoiler

In fact, I'm doing it right now.

 

[DelusiveNinja]

Don't even get me started on this topic...

 

[doublevisionsfc]

Don't even get me started on this topic...

Yeah... hahah what he said.