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Not Everybody Has an Inner Voice: Behavioral Consequences of Anendophasia
Johanne S K Nedergaard1, Gary Lupyan2
1Department of Nordic Studies and Linguistics, University of Copenhagen.
Psychological Science
|May 10, 2024
Summary
The experience of inner speech varies among adults. Low levels of inner speech, termed anendophasia, correlate with poorer verbal working memory and rhyme judgment performance.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Psychology
- Linguistics
- Neuroscience
Background:
- Inner speech, the experience of thought in natural language, is often assumed to be a human universal.
- Recent research indicates significant variability in the subjective experience of inner speech among adults.
Purpose of the Study:
- To introduce the term anendophasia for the lack of inner speech experience.
- To investigate the behavioral consequences associated with varying levels of inner speech.
Main Methods:
- Four studies were conducted with adult participants.
- Participants reported their inner speech experience levels.
- Performance was assessed on verbal working memory, rhyme judgments, task-switching, and perceptual judgments.
Main Results:
- Adults with low inner speech (anendophasia) exhibited lower performance on verbal working memory tasks.
- Participants reporting less inner speech also showed greater difficulty with rhyme judgments.
- Task-switching and categorical effects on perception were not significantly related to inner speech levels.
Conclusions:
- The subjective experience of inner speech is not universal and has measurable behavioral correlates.
- Anendophasia is associated with deficits in verbal working memory and phonological processing.
- Further research is needed to explore the full implications of anendophasia.
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