It's a stretch to consider people incapable if they don't report inner monologue. Not everyone trusts that kind of self reporting as an accurate description of actual function. Smart money says it's not an issue of ability, though, more like disposition. There's an "inner" report for every external sense. A control based explanation for the phenomena has experimental support. Inner monologue in those who report as much appears to be correlated with the system we use to assess and process external speech. Additionally, it's correlated with a process we employ to predict speech, to reduce the field of external attention - particularly when we're speaking. All of this, so that the sound of our own voice (and possibly other human voices) doesn't interfere with attending to other important environmental sounds. This occurs in people even when they don't report inner monologue and could explain why there's a segment of people who don't report the experience. It acts as noise cancellation, a signal filter. Whatever else it is or may be, it's zeroing out a flood of functionally less useful and possibly detrimental information. This is done subconsciously..and fwiw, the majority of people who report inner monologue rate it as either infrequent, or largely subconscious, itself.
We sometimes (sorta) hear (some version of) ourselves but we don't notice it until we attend to it.....and when we do..we suspect that we're doing it more often than we notice. OTOH, most of us have had at least one deeply introspective sense of narration. Explicit, directed, profound even. Really sorting ourselves out, lol. Perhaps this is a novel application for a function adapted to a more fundamental aspect of our biology.
We sometimes (sorta) hear (some version of) ourselves but we don't notice it until we attend to it.....and when we do..we suspect that we're doing it more often than we notice. OTOH, most of us have had at least one deeply introspective sense of narration. Explicit, directed, profound even. Really sorting ourselves out, lol. Perhaps this is a novel application for a function adapted to a more fundamental aspect of our biology.
I am the Infantry. I am my country’s strength in war, her deterrent in peace. I am the heart of the fight… wherever, whenever. I carry America’s faith and honor against her enemies. I am the Queen of Battle. I am what my country expects me to be, the best trained Soldier in the world. In the race for victory, I am swift, determined, and courageous, armed with a fierce will to win. Never will I fail my country’s trust. Always I fight on…through the foe, to the objective, to triumph overall. If necessary, I will fight to my death. By my steadfast courage, I have won more than 200 years of freedom. I yield not to weakness, to hunger, to cowardice, to fatigue, to superior odds, For I am mentally tough, physically strong, and morally straight. I forsake not, my country, my mission, my comrades, my sacred duty. I am relentless. I am always there, now and forever. I AM THE INFANTRY! FOLLOW ME!
