Guide
Some people hear their thoughts as a running commentary in words. Others think mostly in images, feelings or wordless ideas and rarely talk to themselves at all. This test looks at how often you think in words and what your inner speech is like.
It follows the structure of the Varieties of Inner Speech Questionnaire (VISQ-R) by Alderson-Day et al. (2018), which describes five facets: inner dialogue, condensed inner speech, other people's voices, evaluative or critical inner speech, and positive, self-regulating inner speech. Mind Atlas asks about these facets with 15 items of its own.
Dialogic inner speech is a back-and-forth, as if you were talking with someone in your head. Condensed inner speech is compressed: a few key words or fragments stand for a whole thought. Other people's voices means that you hear, for example, a parent, a friend or a teacher in your thoughts. Evaluative or critical inner speech judges what you do, sometimes harshly. Positive, regulatory inner speech encourages and steers you, like a quiet “you can do this” before a difficult task.
Many people know several of these facets, in different mixtures. Your result shows how strong each facet is for you, next to the basic question of how often you think in words at all.
It is often assumed that everyone thinks in words. Nedergaard and Lupyan (2024) proposed the name anendophasia for a lack of inner speech. In their studies, adults with little inner speech (46 people) did worse on a verbal working memory task and found rhyme judgements harder than adults with a lot of inner speech (47 people). Task switching and categorical perception were unrelated to inner speech.
A related experience is anauralia, the absence of inner sound. Hinwar and Lambert (2021) found that people without auditory imagery tended to have little or no visual imagery as well.
Your result shows how often you think in words and which facets dominate. Neither end is better: the experience of inner speech ranges from nearly constant to nonexistent (Nedergaard & Lupyan 2024). The bands are orientation only, since this is a new self-assessment that has not been validated.
Inner speech is your own thinking in words. It is different from hearing voices that seem to come from outside. If that happens to you, or if critical inner speech weighs on you, please talk to a doctor or therapist.
No. Research suggests that the experience of inner speech ranges from nearly constant to nonexistent (Nedergaard & Lupyan 2024).
The name Nedergaard and Lupyan (2024) proposed for a lack of the experience of inner speech. People with little inner speech still think; in their studies they differed only on some verbal tasks.
No. It follows the five facets of the VISQ-R (Alderson-Day et al. 2018) with 15 items of its own, so the scores are not interchangeable.
Peer-reviewed studies. Figures are quoted as reported there; your result comes from a self-assessment that has not been validated.
Go deeper
Anauralia: a mind without inner sound, on aphantasie.orgOur sister site explains the research behind this dimension. Opens in a new tab.World 4 of 5
Silent thinker – Constant narrator
Do you think in words? How often, in whose voice, as a dialogue with yourself, or in silence?
The IVS-15 is a self-assessment with its own items. Its structure follows the methodology of research questionnaires on inner speech (VISQ-R: Alderson-Day et al., 2018); the items are written in our own words and informed by published research methods. It is a self-assessment, not a psychometrically validated instrument, and does not diagnose anendophasia (absence of inner speech).
Self-assessment, not a diagnosis. Mind Atlas helps you reflect on how you experience your inner world. It does not replace medical or psychological advice. Read the disclaimer
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