Self-reported inner speech illuminates the frequency and content of self-as-subject and self-as-object experiences.

We can experience ourselves as subject ('I') when minimally aware of ourselves and focused on the surrounding world, and as object ('Me') when the self is the focus of our thoughts.

“Such reports suggest that we can experience ourselves as subject ('I') when we are minimally aware of ourselves and focus instead on the surrounding world, and as object ('Me') when the self is the focus of our thoughts [74].”

Inner speech is associated with everyday activities and when talking about preferences, friends, school, and general life, with the most frequent uses concerning self-regulation, self-reflection, and cognition.

“IS was associated with everyday activities (taking public transport, meeting people, performing hygiene tasks, etc.) and when talking about preferences, friends, school, and general life, with the most frequent uses concerning selfregulation, self-reflection, and cognition.”

Inner speech is an embodied process rooted in real-world social interactions.

“There is a long history of understanding IS as an embodied process rooted in real-world social interactions [6,74].”

In university students, self-as-subject experiences were more frequent than self-as-object, but both were associated with everyday activities such as problem-solving, planning, and self-motivation.

“A self-report study of IS phenomenology in university students showed that, although self-as-subject experiences were more frequent than self-as-object, both were associated with everyday activities such as problem-solving, planning, and self-motivation [75].”

Explicit tests of the two potential underlying mechanisms of MSR are lacking, including whether they are mutually exclusive or interact.

“Explicit tests of these two potential underlying mechanisms are lacking (3, 4, 9, 10, 14), including whether they are mutually exclusive or interact.”

The ability to recognize faces and then adjust behavior accordingly suggests that cleaner fish have the capacity for private self-awareness and mental states associated with mental images of self-face and self-motivation.

“The ability to recognize faces and then adjust behavior accordingly (e.g., friendly or aggressively) suggests that cleaner fish have the capacity for private self-awareness and mental states associated with mental images of self-face and self-motivation (3, 4).”

Cleaner fish achieve self-recognition in images via a mental image of the self rather than a kinesthetic visual-matching process.

“In particular, our finding that cleaner fish react to a marked self-photograph demonstrates compelling evidence that cleaner fish achieve self-recognition in images via a mental image of the self rather than a kinesthetic visual-matching process (1, 3, 4, 9, 10, 21).”