How Do I Know the Voice in My Head Is Me? Agency, Ownership and Source Attribution Across Inner Speech and Voice-Hearing
Maria Kamecka
Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research) October 17, 2026 preprint DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.23441765 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper |
|---|---|
| Key points | Argues that agency, ownership, speaker identity, and source attribution are distinct features of internal voice experiences that do not always occur together, and proposes that seemingly different phenomena such as inner speech, auditory imagery, dreaming, and voice-hearing may share underlying processes relevant to perception, consciousness, and the sense of self. |
Abstract
How do we recognise the voice in our head as our own, and what changes when it feels as though someone else is speaking? This conceptual paper explores the relationship between inner speech, auditory imagery, dreaming and voice-hearing, drawing on neuroscience, psychology and philosophy of mind. It examines how agency, ownership, speaker identity and source attribution contribute to our experience of internal voices, and why these features do not always occur together. The paper invites a closer examination of how the mind distinguishes its own thoughts from the apparent voices of others, questioning whether experiences that seem fundamentally different might reveal shared processes. By exploring these connections, it considers new directions for understanding the relationship between perception, consciousness and the sense of self.