Do you have an internal narrative? Can you visualize images in your head?

Question

I learned at the begining of the year that those internal monologues that they show on TV characters (like on that netflix series "You") are not just for the audience's benefit and that people actually think like this. This blew my mind! I definitely do NOT have a voice in my head.
Flash forward to this week... I was discussing a book with a friend and she asks me "so, if you dont hear an audio in your head while reading, is it just like a silent movie?" Whaaaaaat?! So people can conjure up images in their head too? Those thought bubbles in cartoons arent soley for the audience's benefit either?? I looked into this online and this phenomenon of not seeing any images in your head is called Aphantasia.
Im missing out on both of these phenomenons. How do i even think? My head feels so empty!!!
To be more specific, this is what i'm referring to-
-If you have an internal narrative, you have a little voice in your head while you think
-If you can visualize images in your head, then when someone tells you to imagine something like an elephant,  you can easily pop this image of its representation in your mind
If you cant do either one but think in another completely functional way, please share with me your thought process (if possible- i struggle to explain how i "think" bc i just *do*) so that i dont feel completely bizaar

Answer

Yeah, I have both. I have a voice in my head and often have one-sided conversations with myself as part of my thought process (like, I’ll ask myself a question “what did I do with that pencil?” and answer it). 
I can also easily conjure up images in my head. I’m an avid reader so it’s like watching a movie in my head that I get to direct when I’m reading. I mainly focus on the characters and what’s being described in the book, but I can imagine the whole scene - how the characters move, hear their voices, where they are, what the weather is like, etc.

Answer

For me it’s like when I’m reading a book, it’s all a movie in my head. IM totally in another world - I love it. With regards to just a voice, yeah that’s probably how I have conversations with myself in a head. 
I’ve always enjoyed reading so that’s probably part of the reason

Answer

I can do both when you described you and your friends convo I didn’t read the words in my head. It was a picture 
This is how your friend was looking at you when I read what she said but she was mouthing the words lol.

But when I read a book this is exactly how I see it 
“The woman had long black hair falling over her red shirt, bright blue eyes, a nose ring and a big smile on her face” it’s only like half a picture I can create. the rest is filled with the literal word. Unless I sit there and create the person in my head and add on the nose ring and smile. But I usually get the gist of what the book is describing without seeing the full image in my head. Yknow?

Answer

I think in words (like audio), images and concepts. 
If I’m wondering what my bf is doing I might think to myself:
“Hmm, I wonder what my man is up to?”
 “Hmm.... wonder... (image of boyfriend)...up to?” — a blended narrative that’s somewhere in-between. 
I might actually imagine him... perhaps doing an activity, whatever it is I imagine he’s up to at the time. 
Or I might just feel a sense of curiosity and it’s ABOUT what he’s doing but I don’t verbalize it in my mind. 
Maybe that’ll accompany a vague image, like light, something surreal. Or a feeling... the warmth I feel in his arms... or nothing.

Answer

I do both, but I am mostly image based. My husband is this way as well. I’m a scientist and he’s an architect. Both in fields value creativity and big picture thinking. Network thinking is picture driven for me. I think monologues are more linear ways of thinking. I frequently make typos on these things because I am forced to slow down and use my inner monologue to type out stuff like this on my phone.
I call my inner voice my slow thinking mechanism, because for me it is. When I’m very tired of can’t focus I do it. But I see pictures more often, and it is a much faster way for me to store and remember things. I can read much faster without having to hear my inner monologue. On the other hand,  my picture thinking will not work when reading if the ideas are uninteresting to me. I have to force a monologue.

Answer

I can't  see picture but I have an iner voice.

Answer

Honestly thats why "You" freaked me out. Because sometimes he would say stuff about how hes assuming someone is thinking and I was like well crap I may be a lil crazy.

Answer

Woah! I didn’t even know there was such a thing.

Do you have an internal narrative? Can you visualize images in your head?

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