Talking to Yourself: Thinking Tool or Speaking Practice? (Part I)

I've been wondering about what happens when we talk to ourselves. Lots of people do it. Not in the crazy person who makes you walk the other side of the street sense, but as daily "thinking." The difference between this and "having an idea" is that the "conversation" is clearly language. That is, the internal conversation uses actual words and sentences. The topic could be what to have for dinner, what you'll say next time someone at work shows up without their action items completed, whether the garage needs painting, etc. The conversation can take time: 10 seconds, a minute, maybe even 15 minutes during a commute. Listen to yourself when you're pondering something. You might be one who never has a language-based internal conversation. But I doubt it. So I wondered about the impact...or maybe I should say the purpose...of this subvocalizing. Is it really an "objective" conversation between multiple internal views in order to reach a decision? Or, do you (whatever "you" is in this sense) know in advance where the conversation will end? So I tried an experiment. Results in the next post.