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We always realize that we are talking to ourselves in awkward situations. Me, it was when I was doing my shopping: I was looked askance while I was quietly choosing my vegetables.
I realized that I had been counting my tomatoes out loud for several seconds.
Come to think of it, I often talk to myself. Maybe even a little too much. But luckily, after some research, I realized it wasn’t dementia: talking to yourself is even a sign of higher intelligence!
A way to improve cognitive functions
What are cognitive functions? These are the different roles that we assign to thought, such as thinking, memorizing or concentrating. In short, this is what makes our faculty of thinking useful in our everyday life.
And talking to yourself is precisely beneficial for these functions!
This comes straight from childhood: children often talk to themselves or to themselves, while playing or doing a task. Researchers have found that self-talk in children is very important for their cognitive development.
It also makes it easier for them to complete a task to the end. (1)
Good news: it’s still relevant in adulthood! This is what psychologists Gary Lupyan and Daniel Swingley conclude in their research. Participants had to look for an object in a picture; they found it faster by hearing the word, rather than just thinking it. (2)
Talking to yourself allows you to organize your thinking and to concentrate better. The two psychologists even make a connection between people who talk to each other out loud and those who think faster than average.
It is therefore not a sign of dementia: it is a sign that we know how to make the best use of our cognitive abilities. And Bam !
A way to be more objective
I don’t know about you, but often I talk to myself as if I were talking to someone else. I don’t say to myself “I can do it”, but “we can do it”, or even “we will do it”. If this is also your case, have no fear: this is quite normal, and there are even several advantages.
This is what researchers at the University of Michigan concluded when they conducted a study in which participants had to rethink a painful experience, speaking in the first and then in the third person.
In the second case, the brains of the participants were much calmer and more objective. (3)
In short, talking about yourself in the second or third person allows you to step back and think calmly, rather than being overwhelmed by emotions. On the contrary, these are regulated: we control ourselves better, we worry less.
If you are not yet a follower, you should try: immediate relief guaranteed.
One way to hone your skills
You’ve probably heard the old adage: when you want, you can. But I would rather say: when we believe that we can, we surely can. And even better: when we say to ourselves out loud that we can, then we definitely can!
It’s not me saying it, but Shahzad Tahmasebi Boroujeni and Mehdi Shahbazi, sports researchers at the University of Tehran.
The experience is simple: basketball players were divided into several groups; one group was instructed to motivate themselves by talking to themselves, and the other was to instruct each other out loud.
During the match, those who had motivated themselves alone performed better than those who had given themselves instructions. (4)
In conclusion, motivating yourself allows you to learn and progress. The strategy and tactics of this first group were improved, and that only because they had motivated themselves before the game. I’m not a basketball player, but that’s one more reason to motivate yourself out loud in everyday life.
To conclude
Finally, self-talk has many advantages. She permits :
- improve cognitive functions,
- to take a step back and be objective,
- to hone their skills and progress.
So if you’re talking to yourself out loud, don’t be embarrassed – see it as a super power instead. And if you notice that your child is playing soliloquy, above all, do not prevent it: you may be watching the new Einstein grow up!