The Incredible Power of Imaginary Sound
What does your mind experience as you read these words? What do you experience when you are thinking? What is thought, from your perspective? If you better understand what thought is, can you control it better?
The imaginary sound thesis states that most adults have an ability to imagine sound that is central to our daily waking lives. This ability, largely unrecognized by psychology, comes from nature, the innate potential of the modern brain, and nurture, experience. As children, we progress from self-talk to silent speach to complex thought. We use our imaginary sound ability to read, think, count, practice or preview speach or lyrics, and to pray. For most people, thought is, primarily, imaginary sound of language. Incredibly, imaginary sound is not widely studied or even recognized by the science of psychology.
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 visuals, motion, sound and touch are an example of imaginary sensations as are auditory or visual hallucinations.
Dreams and hallucinations are largely involuntary, but the waking human mind also uses voluntary imaginary sensations for a variety of purposes. The imaginary sound thesis states that normal humans have a profound ability to imagine sound. Imaginary sound of spoken language is used for thinking, reading, silent 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 reference to many other authors, by introspection, and in context of human evolution.
The emerging science of inner voice has not fully recognized imaginary sound as the basis for inner voice. 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.
See the "MY WORK" tab for a more complete discussion. 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.
The imaginary sound ability evolved with us. A large share of mammals and other species use sound to communicate meaningful concepts. Sound has been the basis for human communications for ages. The ability to associate sounds with objects and actions is ancient. Written words, a relatively recent innovation, are a way to convey sound by reference to visual symbols. 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. There are a variety of practices and self-help disciplines that implicitly attempt to modify people’s use of imaginary sound. An understanding and cultivation of one’s imaginary sound ability can help improve efficiency of associated tasks.
Key words: inner voice, thought, reading, imagination, self-talk,
dreams, hallucination.