Have you ever noticed how some people have a tendency to ‘start a conversation’ with themselves every now and then?
If you’ve had such public ‘outburst’ yourself, then you certainly remember the reaction of those who overheard your little ‘dialog’, clearly thinking you are a ‘nut job’.
Hold your horses – there is no need to be alarmed. It is true that this behavioral trait can be associated with lunacy, but science says it can also be regarded as a hallmark of a genius.
Numerous studies have explored this phenomenon and found that talking to yourself can actually boost your ability to process and store information. In other worlds, talking to yourself will not only help you learn more quickly and efficiently, but it will also improve your long-term memory.
These findings were recently backed by a study that was published in the Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, which found that ‘verbal stimulation’ positively influences our perceptual processing abilities.
The study asked participants to repeat the name of certain objects aloud and concluded that such verbal stimulation helped them become more receptive to these objects, allowing them to locate the objects much easier.
Scientists are adamant that talking to ourselves is actually useful in more than one way.
- Talking to Yourself Boosts Your Brain Power
A recent experiment that was conducted by Live Science found that subjects who repeated names of objects were not only able to find these objects in question much quicker, but also exhibited an improved ability to memorize.
In laymen’s terms, this means that talking to yourself will prepare your body for the task ahead, allowing it to complete the job more easily.
- It Helps Children Learn Better
Children, especially toddlers and babies, greatly benefit from the so called ‘self-directed speech’.
Scientists believe that it helps guide children’s behavior, claiming that vocalizing directions allows them to approach a problem more methodically while also making them more adept at following them later in life.
Psychologist Linda Sapadin claims that talking to yourself can help you make better decisions. According to her, this vocal ‘exercise’ not only helps de-clutter the mind, but also validates important decisions and calms the nerves.
It also helps prioritize tasks and improves our decision making.
- It Will Make You More Ambitious
Repeating your goals and ambitions aloud will reinforce your determination to achieve them and rid your mind from unnecessary distractions.
In doing so, you basically break down your goal into a series of individual, clear steps that you will be able to tackle much more easily than approaching the problem head on. This will stimulate your brain to work harder to achieve the end goal.
So, next time you feel weird or out of place for “thinking out loud” or debating with yourself, don’t dwell on it. Turns out, it’s a good thing.
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Sources:
http://elitedaily.com
Self-directed speech affects visual search performance, The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology,DOI:10.1080/17470218.2011.647039
A professional writer with over a decade of incessant writing skills. Her topics of interest and expertise range from health, nutrition and psychology.
