What does it mean when a person talks to themselves out loud, according to psychology?

Some unusual behaviors, such as talking out loud without someone to talk to (i.e., talking to oneself), may have negative connotations for the general population: we find it shocking to witness this behavior. However, mental health experts believe that talking out loud to oneself can even be beneficial, as long as it's not associated with other behaviors.

For example, children often talk to themselves, and according to psychology, this helps them achieve better results in motor skills. Apparently, naming things makes thoughts more tangible and our memory improves considerably.

Talking to oneself out loud is not an irrational act

Thinking out loud is a phenomenon that, despite being 'frowned upon' in society (because many people associate it with a certain insanity), is actually normal and especially good for memory and other mental functions.

According to expert Gary Lupyan, associate professor of psychology at the University of Wisconsin, in an interview with BBC television, "talking to oneself is not irrational at all." Numerous recent studies have shown that self-talk can improve concentration and memory skills .

To conduct the research, a group of people were placed in front of a screen displaying various objects. Those who named the items aloud were able to locate them more quickly. Gary Lupyan claims that by naming what you're seeing, the brain activates visual information to identify the object more quickly than those who don't say it aloud.

Children, the best example that speaking out loud is beneficial

The most illustrative example of this conclusion reached by psychology—that verbalizing anything out loud, even when we're not talking to someone—is children. Often, in childhood, we talk to ourselves in an effort to self-direct ourselves in daily tasks ; it's part of learning.

Psychologists not only see nothing negative about speaking out loud, but in some cases, they even recommend it in consultations. According to psychotherapist Anne Wilson, "We all need to talk to someone interesting, someone who knows us inside out, and someone who's on our side. Who better than ourselves? "

Thus, among the advantages of verbalizing thoughts (apart from strengthening memory), psychology considers self-talk to be a form of internal socialization that contributes to emotional well-being by motivating us cognitively, structuring our thoughts, and facilitating problem-solving.

References

Gary Lupyan, Daniel Swingley. 'Self-directed speech affects visual search performance'. The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 65(6), 1068–1085. Consulted online at https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/17470218 on July 4, 2025.