Can you replay conversations in your head? If not, you might struggle with these common tasks

Let’s hear it for the (interally) silent minority.

Think of the last conversation you had. What did you say? What did they say? Did you hear any of what you were about to say in your head first? If not, you may be part of the (internally) silent minority of people who lack an inner voice. Recent psychology research has revealed that — despite past assumptions — not everyone has a narrator yakking it up in their brain. Some people picture ideas and others more nebulously report thinking in “concepts.” These differences can have consequences — potentially leading to difficulty with some verbal tasks.

The primary finding of a study published May 14 in the journal Psychological Science is that those without mental dialogue may have worse verbal memories. Not everything hinges on internal voice, however. The new findings indicate there are ways to compensate for a quiet mind and that the presence or absence of an inner narrator doesn’t have bearing on all cognitive tasks. READ MORE from Inverse