How does Room 101 work?

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After I read through the Room 101 scene, I had some questions about the logistics of Room 101, mainly about how exactly the Thought Police figure out a person's greatest fear. In Winston's case, he talked to Julia about it in the upstairs room of Mr. Charrington's shop, a room that happened to contain a telescreen. The Thought Police must have heard him and taken note of his fear. But what about people who never speak about their fears out loud? When O'Brien talks to Winston in the Ministry of Love, he claims that he knows everything Winston is thinking. However, I don't believe this to be the truth, because if the Thought Police truly knew everyone's thoughts, they likely would have arrested Winston much earlier, perhaps when he first thought about writing in his diary. If the Thought Police can't figure out someone's fears by reading their mind or listening to their conversations, then they can't effectively use Room 101 on that person. It is possible that the Thought Police conditions people to fear certain things through physical and psychological torture, but since Room 101 is meant to act as the final stage of reconditioning and anyone who enters Room 101 is not yet considered perfectly conditioned, I think this "fear conditioning" may not be effective on everyone.

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