#20 No 1 Inner Experience Expert - Inner Monologue, Aphantasia and How Your Mind Lies to You

Dr Russell Hurlburt is a psychologist, researcher, and one of the leading experts in the study of inner experience.We all assume we know what’s happening inside our own minds. But what if the way you describe your inner thoughts—your inner monologue, mental images, emotions—isn’t accurate? What if you’ve spent your entire life mischaracterizing your own experience? Russell’s research suggests that most people don’t truly understand how their minds work.Expect to learn why you might not actually have an inner monologue, the five core phenomena of inner experience, why most psychological self-reports are unreliable, the surprising differences in how people experience thought, how experience sampling can reveal the hidden structure of your mind, whether meditation really increases self-awareness, and the astonishing story of a woman whose perception of reality was forever altered by this method.This episode will make you question everything you thought you knew about your own mind.---01:26 Exploring Inner Experiences06:31 The Five Frequent Phenomena of Inner Experience11:27 Understanding Experience Sampling Methodology16:12 The Role of Meditation in Inner Awareness21:23 The Challenge of Self-Reporting Inner Experiences26:23 The Prevalence of Inner Monologue31:19 Case Study: Lena's Inner Monologue36:16 Insights from Sadie's Aphantasia43:49 Exploring Aphantasia and Inner Experience49:06 Understanding Descriptive Experience Tests56:49 The Importance of Inner Experience01:08:37 The Impact of Trauma on Inner Experience01:20:54 Reflections on Inner Experience and Relationships---Donate to my Paypal. You're Supporting Bootstrapped Science Communication!https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=L38HCUYY5TDTGFollow the Podcast on other Platforms Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/5m3Gta5MtIYdk59pb2GJ7M?si=b33232eae67b4126Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/ie/podcast/brief-enquiry-to-the-brain/id1752486249