Alderson-Day Ben, Pearson Amy
Department of Psychology, Durham University, UK.
Department of Psychology, University of Sunderland, UK.
Cortex. 2023 Nov;168:193-202. doi: 10.1016/j.cortex.2023.08.008. Epub 2023 Sep 5.
Inner speech refers to the experience of talking to oneself in one's head. While notoriously challenging to investigate, it has also been central to a range of questions concerning mind, brain, and behaviour. Posited as a key component in executive function and self-regulation, inner speech has been claimed to be crucial in higher cognitive operations, self-knowledge and self-awareness. Such arguments have traditionally been supported with examples of atypical development. But variations in inner speech - and in some cases, significant diversity - in fact pose several key challenges to such claims, and raises many more questions for, language, thought and mental health more generally. In this review, we will summarise evidence on the experience and operation of inner speech in child and adult neurotypical populations, autistic people and other neurodivergent groups, and people with diverse experiences of linguistic and sensory development, including deafness. We will demonstrate that the relationship between inner speech and cognitive operations may be more complex than first assumed when explored through the lens of cognitive and neurological diversity, and the implications of that for understanding the developing brain in all populations. We discuss why and how the experience of inner speech in neurodivergent groups has often been assumed rather than investigated, making it an important opportunity for researchers to develop innovative future work that integrates participatory insights with cognitive methodology. Finally, we will outline why variations in inner speech - in neurotypical and neurodivergent populations alike - nevertheless have a range of important implications for mental health vulnerability and unmet need. In this sense, the example of inner speech offers us both a way of looking back at the logic of developmental psychology and neuropsychology, and a clue to its future in a neurodiverse world.
内心言语是指在脑海中与自己对话的体验。尽管对其进行研究极具挑战性，但它在一系列关于心智、大脑和行为的问题中也一直处于核心地位。内心言语被认为是执行功能和自我调节的关键组成部分，在高级认知操作、自我认知和自我意识中至关重要。传统上，此类观点一直以非典型发育的例子作为支撑。但内心言语的变化——在某些情况下，是显著的差异——实际上对这些观点提出了几个关键挑战，并且更广泛地为语言、思维和心理健康引发了更多问题。在这篇综述中，我们将总结关于儿童和成人神经典型人群、自闭症患者及其他神经发育异常群体，以及包括失聪者在内的具有不同语言和感官发育经历的人群中内心言语的体验和运作的证据。我们将证明，当从认知和神经多样性的角度进行探究时，内心言语与认知操作之间的关系可能比最初设想的更为复杂，以及这对于理解所有人群中发育中的大脑的意义。我们讨论了为什么以及如何常常只是假定而非研究神经发育异常群体中内心言语的体验，这使得它成为研究人员开展创新的未来工作的一个重要契机，即将参与性见解与认知方法相结合。最后，我们将概述为什么内心言语的变化——在神经典型和神经发育异常人群中皆是如此——对心理健康的易损性和未满足的需求仍然具有一系列重要影响。从这个意义上说，内心言语的例子既为我们提供了一种回顾发展心理学和神经心理学逻辑的方式，也为其在神经多样化世界中的未来发展提供了一条线索。
