An inner voice is a useful internal communication tool.
Growing up, a massive amount of what we learnt was either provided or reinforcing via verbal instruction. Because of this, all of our brain areas have some sort of tie in with our ability to listen. Conversely, a huge amount of our expression is in the form of verbal communication. So almost all of our brain is also tied to provide data to our speech centre. It’s a small step to use this as a useful internal communication pathway. We experience that as an inner voice.
Not everyone has an inner voice, while others are totally reliant on it for internal communication. Most are somewhere in between. It’s an artifact that isn’t required to be able to think. It’s just extremely useful to most.
An inner voice is a useful internal communication tool.
Growing up, a massive amount of what we learnt was either provided or reinforcing via verbal instruction. Because of this, all of our brain areas have some sort of tie in with our ability to listen. Conversely, a huge amount of our expression is in the form of verbal communication. So almost all of our brain is also tied to provide data to our speech centre. It’s a small step to use this as a useful internal communication pathway. We experience that as an inner voice.
Not everyone has an inner voice, while others are totally reliant on it for internal communication. Most are somewhere in between. It’s an artifact that isn’t required to be able to think. It’s just extremely useful to most.
Also fun fact, people who are native users of sign languages tend to have inner signing. Like disembodied hands