Animisensi and the Power of Imaginary Sound
The human mind, at various times and conditions, can create imaginary sensations, sensations that are not real. These sensations can be involuntary, voluntary, desirable, unwanted, helpful or a problem. Dreams that include imaginary sight, motion, sound and touch are an example of involuntary sensations as are auditory or visual hallucinations.
The waking human mind also uses voluntary imaginary sensations for a variety of purposes. The thesis of this paper is that humans have a profound and largely unappreciated ability to imagine sound. Imaginary sound of spoken language is used for thinking, reading, counting, speech practice, motivation, and praying, and imaginary sound is used for enjoyment, practice and creation of music. The concept of imaginary sound is defended by reference to documentation of “inner voice” such as Charles Fernyhough’s The Voices Within (2016), by introspection, and in context of human evolution.
The emerging study of inner voice has not fully recognized inner voice as imaginary sound. Much of what is commonly called “inner voice” or “thought” is, from the perspective of the thinker, imaginary sound of spoken language. For most persons, reading uses visual symbols to reference sound memories are experienced as imaginary sounds which have meaning.
The use of imaginary sound for thinking, reading, counting, speech practice, motivation, and praying, and the for enjoyment, practice and creation of music are discussed. There are a variety of practices and self-help disciplines that implicitly attempt to modify people’s use of imaginary sound.
The imaginary sound ability evolved in humans over ages. A large share of mammals and other species use sound to communicate meaningful concepts. Our ability to associate imaginary sound of language with complex objects and actions is ancient. Spoken language, thinking and imaginary sound have evolved together in the human mind. The imaginary sound ability became even more important with writing and reading, and these technologies have probably favored the imaginary sound ability.
An explicit recognition of imaginary sound as an ability could help understand and treat a variety of problems including delusion, insomnia, percusia, and dyslexia. A conscious understanding of imaginary sound should help people improve thinking, reading and other skills. An understanding and cultivation of one’s imaginary sound ability could help improve efficiency of associated tasks.
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Key words: inner voice, thought, reading, imagination, self-talk,
dreams, hallucination.