I know that when I think, it’s in the form of an interior monologue, a voice talking to myself.
But what about those people who are deaf from birth? What are their thoughts like? Do they visualize sign language signals in their head?
I’m a hearing person… but I don’t do internal monologue.
So your mind is completely quiet then? Don’t you ever rehearse what you’re going to say to someone, or recollect what others have said to you, and “hear” it in your mind?
Quiet and dark (I also can’t really visualize things)… nor do I seem to have any episodic memory worth mentioning. I can’t really recall conversations, or replay memories… I’m better with factoids; I can remember data on people… and any conclusions drawn from conversations, just not the conversations themselves.
It’s like this… close your eyes and concentrate on thinking of a phone; what color is it?
That’s something I can’t do… when I try… it’s like my brain is idling with the concept of a phone waiting for further instructions; I could come up with the basic operating principles, figures on cell phone prevalence, the Bell/Marconi debate, the first words spoken over a phone, history of black boxing… the raise of the hackers from the phone phreaking groups… names of the members of LoD… basic electromagnetic theory, or total total internal reflection… some phone-numbers from my past…and so on, it’s all just milling around in the background, and I can pull it out once the question is more defined, then I go off like a rocket.
I’m weird 
When I was learning sign language, I remember having a thought that was in sign that I did not immediately think of in words. It felt more like the feeling of the motion than an actual visualization of my hands signing if that makes sense. So that’s one possibility.
I imagine others might think more purely visually. The physicist Richard Feynman talks in his book about how he found some people counted by hearing the sounds in their head, and some people saw the numbers go by. Deaf people could certainly do all their thinking that way.
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But when you think of these words, you don’t think of them as sounds?
I remember my sister signing to herself in the mirror, but I don’t know if that’s what you are looking for…
I have more of an internal dialogue, is that bad? (Also, what seems like the occasional conference call…)
But, yes - this perplexes me as well. My brain is definitely talking with words and sounds and what not.
Think of the person you care most about. Describe what they look like.
Bonus question: Do you “hear” anything when reading traditional poetry that has a meter and rhymes?
I doubt that you’re really having a complete mono(dia?)logue with yourself. I bet it’s more like ideas that you have to later put into words when asked to describe what you’re thinking. Have you ever said “Let’s see, how can I put this?” or otherwise fumbled with your words? Then you know what it’s like to think without words. Just because you can’t put it in English doesn’t mean you can’t think.
I specifically recall once smokin’ the naughty leaf and having it numb my language processing center without dulling my thoughts. It felt like I was mumbling in my head. I knew what I wanted to say, but couldn’t say it. At least, it didn’t feel like I could say it. When I actually spoke, everything came out just fine.
But anyway, deaf people do, indeed, translate things into signs and motions. They mumble to themselves by making tiny, incomplete signs that are barely noticeable to others.
I’m guessing that the manner in which different people think varies wildly - obviously, I can’t know for sure how other people experience thought, but all signs seem to indicate some pretty different approaches.
I can, however, assure you that when I’m thinking about something, I often imagine another person (usually someone with an interest in the topic) and mentally discuss the topic with him or her. But there are plenty of times when it’s just me, too. I often nitpick myself about the exact phrasing of my thought, so… definitely words.
The words that find their way into my brain most frequently are “What’s the most important thing?” Every day, several times, those exact words.
Of course, there are plenty of thoughts that are more abstract, but when things crystallize for me, they do so in word form.
This is going to be like my thread on “when you read do you hear the words in your head?” Difficult to describe and everybody else is a total freak. 
I took sign language in college (I’m not deaf, was just interested). After a few semesters, I went on a “silent weekend” with the class - a retreat where no talking was allowed for 3 days - only sign.
By Sunday, I was thinking in sign. It was quite startling when it happened.
There will be the factor of whether the deaf person could ever hear. Don’t know where to find the cites, but sone research showed a development difference in language processing for those born deaf.
BTW: I am an involuntary monologist, and I wish that asshole would shut up some times.
I do, but I’d rather I didn’t. Especially when I’ve just read a sentence part, I know I’ve understood it, but I just have to pronounce it in my mind before I continue.
I’m not deaf, but I’ve worked a lot with deaf people.
Your question depends on whether the person involved is prelingually or postlingually deaf. You’ll find that most postlingually deaf people (those who lost their hearing after developing language skills) think just like everyone else. The earlier they lost hearing and the longer they go without it, the more “spoken” language skills can atrophy, of course, but they are absolutely capable of the same internal dialogs you have.
Prelingually deaf people (those deaf since birth, or deafened before they developed language skills), on the other hand, can’t have this internal dialog because they have never learned spoken language.
From Cecil.
Nothing to add, just finding this fascinating - esp. “seeing” how other people “think” and the angsty shouting at yourself in the mirror being done thro’ sign. Thank you.