Radiolab: “Voices in Your Head”

Host: Jad Abumrad
Guests: Charles Fernyhough, Molly Martin, Marcus Macias
Date: September 8, 2010
Episode Theme:
This episode of Radiolab ventures into the mysterious nature of the voices we hear inside our heads—tracing the development of internal dialogue from early childhood, exploring the psychology and neurology of “hearing voices,” and investigating what this says about thought and the boundaries of the self.

Main Theme & Purpose

Radiolab explores the boundary between thinking and language by starting with a provocative question: Do you truly think before you have words? The episode leans into the “voices in your head” theory, moving from the roots of self-talk in early childhood to the phenomenon of hearing other voices—sometimes disturbing, sometimes comforting—inside one’s mind.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Origins of Thought and Inner Speech

(01:09—06:08)

• Vygotsky’s Theory:
  Developmental psychologist Charles Fernyhough introduces the foundational idea from Russian psychologist Lev Vygotsky: Thought emerges from external dialogue before it becomes internalized as “private speech.”
  • Fernyhough: “Think about a small child who’s sitting down solving a puzzle...” (03:37)
  • Children narrate actions aloud, guided by others (parent, teacher); over time, this self-talk migrates inward and silent.
• Stages of Speech Development:
  1. External dialogue with caregiver (parent helps solve a puzzle).
  2. Private speech: Child narrates to self aloud (“Put the ball in the box…”).
  3. Internal speech: This narration becomes silent inner thought after social cues encourage children not to talk aloud.
• Memorable takeaway:
  • Abumrad: “Those thoughts...began as a crowd.” (05:28)
  • Fernyhough: “The logic of it is that all our thinking is full of other people's voices.” (05:59)

2. Hearing Other Voices: The Experience and Its Origins

(06:08—12:08)

• The Hearing Voices Network in Denver:
  • Jad shares a report from producer Pat Walters who met Molly Martin, psychotherapist and support group leader, and Marcus Macias, a voice hearer.
  • Marcus’s Experience:
    • Voices began in young adulthood, often emerging from environmental white noise.
    • Initially supportive (“be careful, watch out”), but sometimes distressing or hostile (“deep demonic”).
    • Marcus: “I first started hearing them 20 years ago...when I was 20.” (07:03)
    • He has learned to manage the voices with self-care.
  • Prevalence:
    • 5–10% of the general population have experienced hearing someone else’s voice in their head at some point.
• Scientific Perspective:
  • Fernyhough’s take: Misattribution is key; it’s the brain mistaking self-generated private speech for someone else’s speech.
    • Fernyhough: “You get mistaken to be from someone else.” (08:45)
  • Experiment Description:
    • People with schizophrenia (vs. controls) more often misidentify their electronically altered voices as coming from strangers when the pitch is lowered.
    • Abumrad: “What the experimenters found is that most people, most non–voice hearing...made some mistakes. The voice hearers made considerably more mistakes.” (10:04)

3. When Voices Are Comforting

(10:27—12:08)

• Reframing “Hearing Voices”:
  • Voices aren’t always distressing; they can serve as a source of comfort, echoing caring relationships from the past.
  • Molly Martin’s story: A woman who’d witnessed her father’s murder heard his voice for years, offering guidance and reassurance.
    • Molly Martin: “Every morning when she would wake up, he would tell her to make her bed...if she wanted to use drugs again, her father would say to her things like, ‘Don’t do it, you know it’s bad for you.’” (11:12)
  • The phenomenon is framed as “frozen” positive self-talk, internally preserving a supportive relationship.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Charles Fernyhough on children’s thought:
  • “I don’t think very young children do think.” (02:28)
• On the crowd inside your head:
  • Abumrad: “Those thoughts began as a crowd.” (05:28)
  • Fernyhough: “All our thinking is full of other people’s voices.” (05:59)
• On voice-hearing and misattribution:
  • Fernyhough: “That’s not me, that’s not myself. That didn’t come from me.” (10:18)

Timestamps for Important Segments

• 01:09 — Episode Introduction & Thesis
• 02:07 — Dr. Charles Fernyhough introduces Vygotsky
• 03:37–05:28 — Child development & internalization of thought
• 05:59 — “All our thinking is full of other people's voices”
• 06:22–07:56 — Molly Martin & Marcus Macias: the experience of hearing voices
• 08:45–10:27 — Science and experiment: misattribution of voices
• 10:59–11:51 — Positive side: comfort from internal voices

Overall Tone & Style

The episode is curious, analytical, and human-centered, blending insights from child psychology and cognitive science with deeply personal testimonies. Jad’s narration moves fluidly between theory and lived experience, and the guests’ openness grounds abstract concepts in real-world emotion.

Summary Takeaway

“Voices in Your Head” traces the roots of thought to our earliest social exchanges, showing how the voices of others become the voices inside us—and, in some cases, are experienced as literally someone else. The episode ultimately suggests that the boundaries between “my inner voice” and “another’s voice” are far blurrier—and more meaningful—than we might think.