OK this for the so-called scholars! What language is thought in?

Question

Please "THINK" hard before you answer. When you think about work.....Do you say work in your mind? Or do you Image-in your job in your mind??

Answer 1

Thought is electrical signals so I guess the language would be whatever chemical nor-reactors use... Perhaps something close to binary since there is an electrical pulse.

We just interpret these chemolectrical signals in different ways. Sometimes we think in feelings, sometimes we think in pictures. It’s pretty much different for everyone. Personally I think in colors which is a rare process I am told.

If I had to guess, and anyone would guess since it’s different per person and there is still more we don’t know about the mind than we do know, I would say something close to binary.

Answer 2

There are three types of people....those that learn by visualizing, those that learn by doing, or a mix of both. It's the same with thought. Some people will visualize their job, others will say work in their mind and still others will do both.

As a side note, I've dreamt about reading old scrolls of text that was written in a language that was foreign to me..I have no idea what it meant, but it was fascinating to think and I still wonder why I "saw" these ancient scrolls...and especially why they were not written in a language so that I could understand. I tell you this story to say thought could be the same way....multiple ways/languages as described above.

Peace, Love, and Blessings
Greenwood

Answer 3

My thoughts are in English, sometimes accompanied by specific images.

There has long been a theory (perhaps best expounded by Noam Chomsky) that human thought can only process and communicate things it has a word for. That language, in many ways, determines what we can think.

For example, when an average person sees an insect flying past, they may well only register it as a 'bug' - lacking the vocabulary or experience to separate it from the other flying bugs out there. Someone a bit more educated may well recognize it as a dragonfly. A zoologist may glance at it and recognize it as Sympetrum collussum, and be able to tell not only what likely food it is hunting, but where its larvae likely develop and what they look like. Because he has a separate word for it, he can process his thoughts much more clearly.

Similar things can be seen with the jargon associated with any field. Computers, video games, cars, etc. When two computer geeks speak, they compare SQLs and firewalls, and processing speeds and chip rates - but your grandmother trying to explain what happens when she tries to play Solitaire can only say that the computer is broke and sends funny messages.

This concept was behind the language called 'newspeak' used in the novel 1984 by George Orwell. By removing words and adjectives from the language, the government was able to limit what their subjects could even think about.

Answer 4

We use a combination of languages. We make use of our primary language, which allows us to verbally reason things out, especially abstract concepts. But primarily we use what is best called "meta-language". It's not really a language in the sense of having true grammar or even word-associations. I don't have to think out "That - Is - A - Tree" or even "Tree" when I see a tree. I register it as a sub-verbal thought, and make sentient decisions based on the inputs I register. This kind of animal sentience carries us through most of our basic functioning on a day-to-day basis. True conscious thought, and verbal language, is only required for social interaction and higher reasoning.

Answer 5

Thought is not in a language for the truth is eternal and so thought is infinite, it was never restricted by the boundaries of your language. That is an entirely new tool brought into existence to help purely conscious man unlock the realms of pure truth and infinite thought. All the power is yours if you truly understand that. To understand that you must become truly pure. Remember you will? Never forget this!

Answer 6

I talk in my head. I hear my own voice, speaking the only language I know fluently (English, obviously) babbling on about whatever I'm thinking about, but I also see pictures and hear other sounds in my mind. I am sure it's different for others. I always wondered if deaf people have a mind voice, or do they see sign, or something else...

Answer 7

My understanding is that thoughts are actually patterns of millions of neuron depolarizations spread over the surface of the cerebral cortex. The cortex consists of trillions of intricately interconnected nerve cells that each re-polarize or de-polarize according to the state of their input synapses. The output state of each neuron is likewise connected to the inputs of countless other neural inputs. The complexity of the neural network increases as the cube of the total number of neurons.

Wernicke's area, in the temporal lobe, is responsible for converting the neural signals from the inner ear's cochlea into what we think we hear as speech. Broca's area, in the supplemental motor cortex of the frontal lobe is responsible for converting neural signals (thoughts) into the nervous impulses needed to operate the vocal tract and create speech output.

It is only an illusion that we imagine we think in words.

Answer 8

Whatever language the person who's thinking speaks. If you're going philosophical, I'd say that thought is above and beyond language, but having one makes it easier to convey that thought to others.

Answer 9

I am a so-called scholar. When I think about work I don't say anything. I don't have a job.

Answer 10

I 'see' it spelled out in words at the same time as I get the image. I generally have several going on at the same time and they can be quite unconnected with each other. It is always in my language.