Do You Have an Internal Monologue?

RiverCity

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Nice to hear my inner dialogue tell me I’m not crazy for having an inner dialogue, lulz

Its fine to ask yourself questions, and its also fine to answer them.

However, it is never acceptable to ask yourself to repeat something. :thumbup:
 

gregcantrall

Center Ball
Silver Member
I gave myself a pep talk that enabled me to play my best.

1989 at The White Spot bar box tournament. Big venue race to 7 with all the best players from the north west and then some.

I managed to get to the point match but was tilted. I had missed the case 9 ball at hill hill in my previous match and had the game given back to me. I could not figure out why I missed that 9.

So I proceeded to run to the 6, 7 or even 8 and then dog it rack after rack. When my opponent got to the hill it was 6-2. As I was racking I said to myself, "Self, don't worry about looking like a fool, you've already done that." Then I thought, I don't know who this guy is. Yea he beat Dan Louie but I don't know how that happened. This is a big stage. Maybe he has never been on this kind of stage. So how about if I quit giving him games and see if he can earn it. Sheese it is pretty much a done deal, he could win a game on luck before I could win 5. Just don't give it to him.

I listened to myself then turned off the dialogue and won the match.
profilepic72809_3.gif
 
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jrctherake

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Its fine to ask yourself questions, and its also fine to answer them.

However, it is never acceptable to ask yourself to repeat something. :thumbup:

And here I've sat all these years thinking it was normal to ask myself the same question again and again only because I didn't hear myself the first couple times.

Where are you getting that information? It can't be from the same psychiatrist that's giving me advice. If it is, he's a wishy-washy SOB and needs to get his story str8.

Maybe our psychiatrist should have a pow wow with Lou's and see if they can come up with something to treat this phenomenon. If he does and it works, hell...we'll never talk ourselves out of a shot again. We'll all be chumps.....em...I mean champs.

Jeff
 

Imac007

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
So I recently read an article that was incredibly surprising to me -- that not every human being has the ability to conduct an internal monologue with themselves:

https://ryanandrewlangdon.wordpress...-internal-monologue-and-it-has-ruined-my-day/

IOWs, some people can't silently talk to themselves inside their brain.

How is this possible?!

So anyways, I was thinking about this as it pertains to pool and was wondering if, ferinstance, while I was playing Francisco Bustamonte at the DCC a few days ago, was I having an internal monologue during my runs during which I talked and debated with myself about what to do next on each shot.

And I came to the conclusion, that even though I can and do have internal monologues with myself, when I'm shooting pool, especially when running balls, I do not have an internal monologue going on and my thought process becomes unspoken and abstract. Crazy.

How about youz? Do you have or not have internal monologues, particularly when shooting pool?

Lou Figueroa

To answer your question first, I do have internal dialogue, lots of it. It is gender neutral English dialogue, sometimes analytical, other times conversational. I rehearse possible narrative conversations internally.

Several things came to mind when I read the article you linked.

First I read a book years ago that detailed the evolution of internal dialogue. It was called The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind by Julian Jaynes. The idea was that what we call consciousness evolved from a different type of internal experience, one in which the inner voices were the gods talking to them, or visions from the afterworld.

Modern thinking suggest it is experience translated into description.

Thinking in Words: Language as an Embodied Medium of Thought
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/tops.12102

Dawna Markova developed a model that looked at the conscious, subconscious and unconscious mind as being prominent workspaces for what she termed VAK. That stands for Visual, Auditory, and Kinesthetic. It has long been known that people have different learning styles. Like handedness, our minds have a sensory preference. Markova said it went beyond that. People have a preference for each level of consciousness mind. The learning styles one just identified our conscious mind preference. The subconscious will be dominant in a different sense and the unconscious in the remaining sense.

I’m reminded of a story.
“There are these two young fish swimming along and they happen to meet an older fish swimming the other way, who nods at them and says “Morning, boys. How’s the water?” And the two young fish swim on for a bit, and then eventually one of them looks over at the other and goes “What the hell is water?”

Rather than thinking that the commenters who claim no awareness of internal dialogue as unevolved, I see them as having a “what the hell is water?” experience.
Evidence the fact that they formulated a dialogue to form as response in the forum. The mind generated the narrative. Markova says it may not be available in immediate consciousness though.

An auditory aware version of dialogue in consciousness Is dominant in about 20-25% of the population. Since the subconscious is a transitory threshold, any formulated dialogue is capable of becoming part of consciousness. About 70% of us are visually dominant in consciousness. If the Markova VAK model is right, then about 90% of us are capable of bringing an internal voice into consciousness.

Another book that looks at the role of narrative thought in decision making is “Tempo: timing, tactics and strategy in narrative-driven decision-making” by Venkatesh Rao.

The Inner Game of a Tennis by Tomothy Gallwey suggests how to handle the inner dialogue in sport performance.
 
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Buckzapper

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
What is said in my head as I stand over the shot;

" I love to load the ball with juice, to see it dance and spin....it glides along the rail and knocks a few more in."

"Go ahead and jump up like a cobra just bit you in the ass, but do it on your final stroke."


"There's big Lola, you know she only dates champions and players that go 2 and out. Her eyes are locked on you tonight." "She loves the way you spin your cue in the air, like an airplane propeller." "She's wearing her size 54 shirt from the Mustang Ranch and she's looking for a bullride."
 

book collector

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
So I recently read an article that was incredibly surprising to me -- that not every human being has the ability to conduct an internal monologue with themselves:

https://ryanandrewlangdon.wordpress...-internal-monologue-and-it-has-ruined-my-day/

IOWs, some people can't silently talk to themselves inside their brain.

How is this possible?!

So anyways, I was thinking about this as it pertains to pool and was wondering if, ferinstance, while I was playing Francisco Bustamonte at the DCC a few days ago, was I having an internal monologue during my runs during which I talked and debated with myself about what to do next on each shot.

And I came to the conclusion, that even though I can and do have internal monologues with myself, when I'm shooting pool, especially when running balls, I do not have an internal monologue going on and my thought process becomes unspoken and abstract. Crazy.

How about youz? Do you have or not have internal monologues, particularly when shooting pool?

Lou Figueroa

I have a whole coterie inside my head , each one screaming to be heard over the others, sort of like Exit Door on Mork and Mindy.
 

Bic D

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
To answer your question first, I do have internal dialogue, lots of it. It is gender neutral English dialogue, sometimes analytical, other times conversational. I rehearse possible narrative conversations internally.

Several things came to mind when I read the article you linked.

First I read a book years ago that detailed the evolution of internal dialogue. It was called The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind by Julian Jaynes. The idea was that what we call consciousness evolved from a different type of internal experience, one in which the inner voices were the gods talking to them, or visions from the afterworld.

Modern thinking suggest it is experience translated into description.

Thinking in Words: Language as an Embodied Medium of Thought
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/tops.12102

Dawna Markova developed a model that looked at the conscious, subconscious and unconscious mind as being prominent workspaces for what she termed VAK. That stands for Visual, Auditory, and Kinesthetic. It has long been known that people have different learning styles. Like handedness, our minds have a sensory preference. Markova said it went beyond that. People have a preference for each level of consciousness mind. The learning styles one just identified our conscious mind preference. The subconscious will be dominant in a different sense and the unconscious in the remaining sense.

I’m reminded of a story.
“There are these two young fish swimming along and they happen to meet an older fish swimming the other way, who nods at them and says “Morning, boys. How’s the water?” And the two young fish swim on for a bit, and then eventually one of them looks over at the other and goes “What the hell is water?”

Rather than thinking that the commenters who claim no awareness of internal dialogue as unevolved, I see them as having a “what the hell is water?” experience.
Evidence the fact that they formulated a dialogue to form as response in the forum. The mind generated the narrative. Markova says it may not be in immediate consciousness though.

An auditory aware version of dialogue in consciousness Is dominant in about 20-25% of the population. Since the subconscious is a transitory threshold, any formulated dialogue is capable of becoming part of consciousness. About 70% of us are visually dominant in consciousness. If the Markova VAK model is right, then about 90% of us are capable of bringing an internal voice into consciousness.

Another book that looks at the role of narrative thought in decision making is “Tempo: timing, tactics and strategy in narrative-driven decision-making” by Venkatesh Rao.

The Inner Game of a Tennis by Tomothy Gallwey suggests how to handle the inner dialogue in sport performance.

Truly amazing. I was back on the phone with my daughter this morning with her asking me questions and me doing the same. I'm the fish asking what the hell water is.

She finds it amazing that I don't have conversations in my head and I find it incredible that people have always had conversations in their head.

This is kind of like that picture that went around a couple of years of the dress that many people that was gold and white while other people thought was blue and black

https://www.nationalgeographic.com....ite-dress-why-we-see-colours-differently.aspx

or the audio illusion where some people hear Laurel while other people hear yanny

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7X_WvGAhMlQ

For the record, I see a Blue/Black dress and I hear Laurel.
 

lfigueroa

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
This really is crazy.

When I'm playing pool or just walking though life, I don't hear words in my head. But, pertaining to pool specifically. If I'm playing 9 ball for example and I break, I will take a look at the table and I see a picture of the table in my head.

If there are no problems, then I will see a picture of the first 3 or 4 balls that I need to run and which side of the ball I need to be on that 2nd or 3rd ball.

After the 2nd shot, I see a picture of the next 3 or 4 shots and repeat the process. In my head, I'm not hearing anything, but I'm seeing the ball come off the long rail drifting down for my next shot.

Does that make sense?


Yes.

Funny thing is, though I can have an IM I can't visualize something like the shots on a pool table.

Lou Figueroa
 

lfigueroa

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
No i actually don’t have an English narrators voice as my internal dialogue. But the sound of the voice in my head is how I would assume people would imagine their voice to sound. But I would say mine is almost more of a whisper of a voice, in my accent. Almost silently mouthing to words to myself, but not physically. I don’t need an internal voice to tell me how to use my hand to pick things up. But as I’m making decisions or debating on how to handle different situations or to accomplish goals or so on and so forth, it’s almost as if I’m listening to myself explain things in order to further explore and build on certain ideas. As I accumulate information on whatever subject it may be, my thoughts evolve through the results of self explanation and discovery of different “dialogues” or “conversations”. I may be crazy, but since I’ve been this way my whole life I assumed everyone else’s brain thought the same way. I always imagined schizophrenic people hear voices that arent theirs or their voluntary thoughts. Voices of a different dialogue telling them things they may not want to voluntarily think about.


I've also read that you cannot change the volume on your internal voice.

Lou Figueroa
 

lfigueroa

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
IMO, Lou has a better chance in psychology than he does in pool.

Lou, I thought I had to much time on my hands...

It's easy to see who is retired (to much time on hands) and who still works (not enough hours in the day).


At least it's not another thread about "which tip is best"...

Jeff


Retired has nothing to do with it.

Every morning over an expresso I spend a half hour reading a *wide variety* of web sites to find out what's going on in the world. I've always done this for years and years and considered it especially vital when I was working. It's part of being a well informed person and citizen.

Then I spend a few moments here.

Lou Figueroa
 
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lfigueroa

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Are we really just inventing a new term for being engaged in analytical thinking, asking ourselves questions, answering them, and then questioning the answers again? Does anyone actually hear voices or are you just understanding your silent thoughts? Can a mind really produce sound?

Yes, I do engage in dialogue with myself, constantly. But voices/sound? Not even when I'm thinking of a song...just words.


I hear, clear as a bell, a voice which I believe sounds like my own voice.

As to music, when I hear music in my head, it is fully orchestrated and as clear as a Bose. Vocalists are optional.

Lou Figueroa
 

lfigueroa

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
To answer your question first, I do have internal dialogue, lots of it. It is gender neutral English dialogue, sometimes analytical, other times conversational. I rehearse possible narrative conversations internally.

Several things came to mind when I read the article you linked.

First I read a book years ago that detailed the evolution of internal dialogue. It was called The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind by Julian Jaynes. The idea was that what we call consciousness evolved from a different type of internal experience, one in which the inner voices were the gods talking to them, or visions from the afterworld.

Modern thinking suggest it is experience translated into description.

Thinking in Words: Language as an Embodied Medium of Thought
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/tops.12102

Dawna Markova developed a model that looked at the conscious, subconscious and unconscious mind as being prominent workspaces for what she termed VAK. That stands for Visual, Auditory, and Kinesthetic. It has long been known that people have different learning styles. Like handedness, our minds have a sensory preference. Markova said it went beyond that. People have a preference for each level of consciousness mind. The learning styles one just identified our conscious mind preference. The subconscious will be dominant in a different sense and the unconscious in the remaining sense.

I’m reminded of a story.
“There are these two young fish swimming along and they happen to meet an older fish swimming the other way, who nods at them and says “Morning, boys. How’s the water?” And the two young fish swim on for a bit, and then eventually one of them looks over at the other and goes “What the hell is water?”

Rather than thinking that the commenters who claim no awareness of internal dialogue as unevolved, I see them as having a “what the hell is water?” experience.
Evidence the fact that they formulated a dialogue to form as response in the forum. The mind generated the narrative. Markova says it may not be in immediate consciousness though.

An auditory aware version of dialogue in consciousness Is dominant in about 20-25% of the population. Since the subconscious is a transitory threshold, any formulated dialogue is capable of becoming part of consciousness. About 70% of us are visually dominant in consciousness. If the Markova VAK model is right, then about 90% of us are capable of bringing an internal voice into consciousness.

Another book that looks at the role of narrative thought in decision making is “Tempo: timing, tactics and strategy in narrative-driven decision-making” by Venkatesh Rao.

The Inner Game of a Tennis by Tomothy Gallwey suggests how to handle the inner dialogue in sport performance.


Good info.

I especially like the fish analogy. We all think of our experience as everyone's experience and are startled to find out otherwise.

Lou Figueroa
 

lfigueroa

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
What is said in my head as I stand over the shot;

" I love to load the ball with juice, to see it dance and spin....it glides along the rail and knocks a few more in."

"Go ahead and jump up like a cobra just bit you in the ass, but do it on your final stroke."


"There's big Lola, you know she only dates champions and players that go 2 and out. Her eyes are locked on you tonight." "She loves the way you spin your cue in the air, like an airplane propeller." "She's wearing her size 54 shirt from the Mustang Ranch and she's looking for a bullride."


lol.

Lou Figueroa
you need help :)
 

jrctherake

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Retired has nothing to do with it.

Every morning over an expresso I spend a half hour reading a *wide variety* of web sites to find out what's going on in the world. I've always done this for years and years and considered it especially vital when I was working. It's part of being a well informed person and citizen.

Then I spend a few moments here.

Lou Figueroa

Why put us last Lou?

You should know by now that anything you need to know can be found on AZB...

J/K...

I use to read a great deal as well but, since retiring, like most, it seems I have less and less "free time".

I remember when I was younger, I heard older gents say "I had to come out of retirement so I could get some rest".....

I always thought that was crazy (little did I know)....I now understand exactly what they meant.

Jeff
 

8cree

Reverse Engineer
Silver Member
Some times when I have a good couple of racks and run em out at will, I think back and it's almost like I was never there and never shot a single shot. Sort of like when you drive somewhere and once you get there you can barely remember the drive because you were in a state of "autopilot"... Typically, if I'm talking to myself in my head, it's because there are problems. It seems like my best pool gets played in "autopilot" mode as well... now I'm thinking on it too much and that's probably detrimental at this point!
 

evergruven

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
fun topic
I think my internal monologue is rappin now..sitting here typing this:eek:
re: pool, I'm thinking about it..it's interesting
pool seems to be more responsive than reactive
so we have time to think, and really consider our surroundings when we play
but when I shoot, I think I'm so into the game
that there's not much room for color commentary
I'm too busy looking at my table, their table, our table, the table
just trying to do the right there out there
that said
the peanut gallery is never too far away:grin-square:
 

jimmyg

Mook! What's a Mook?
Silver Member
I hear, clear as a bell, a voice which I believe sounds like my own voice.

As to music, when I hear music in my head, it is fully orchestrated and as clear as a Bose. Vocalists are optional.

Lou Figueroa

Interesting...Be careful...:smile:

i-really-hate-it-when-the-voices-in-my-head-4902272.png


cool-lazy-nap-plan-sign.jpg
 
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