Question: why do we have a voice in our head?

Priya Hari answered on 21 Jun 2015:

In scientific terms, the voice in our heads is called ‘inner speech’ or ‘inner voice.’

When we are younger, most of us will have talked to ourselves whilst playing with dolls and teddies and cars etc., as we get older, most of us will stop doing this and only talk out loud when there are other people there.

One theory suggests that the voice we hear is a prediction made by a brain, so when we are thinking, our brain is predicting what it would sound like if we actually said it out loud. It’s the same concept as to why we can’t tickle ourselves. Our brain will predict that we are going to try and tickle ourselves but then we don’t feel anything because our brain knows what it will feel like and block it out. Similarly, our brain stops us from saying things out loud but we can still hear it.

It is also an evolutionary mechanism that makes sure that our senses are being used optimally. For instance, when we do talk out loud, we can’t hear what’s going on in our surroundings as well. So, by not always having to talk out loud, we can still hear what’s going on around us.