Representational Systems and Eye Movements in NLP
In Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP)1), the concept of representational systems refers to the way that people process and represent information in their minds. According to NLP, there are five primary representational systems: visual, auditory, kinesthetic, olfactory, and gustatory. They are also abbreviated using the acronym VAKOG.2).
The visual representational system refers to the way that people process and represent information through their sense of sight. This can include the use of images, colours, and spatial relationships.
The auditory representational system refers to the way that people process and represent information through their sense of hearing. This can include the use of sounds, tones, and rhythms.
The kinesthetic representational system refers to the way that people process and represent information through their sense of touch and movement. This can include the use of physical sensations, emotions, and body language.
The olfactory representational system refers to the way that people process and represent information through their sense of smell.
The gustatory representational system refers to the way that people process and represent information through their sense of taste.
In NLP, practitioners may use the concept of representational systems to understand how a person processes and represents information, and to communicate more effectively with that person. For example, if a person tends to use primarily visual language (such as “I see what you mean”), it might indicate that they are using the visual representational system. NLP practitioners can use this information to communicate with the person in a way that is more aligned with their preferred representational system.
Eye Movements and Internal Representations
One of the first people to suggest that eye movements were related to internal representations3) was the American psychologist William James, who is often described as the father of modern psychology. In his book The Principles of Psychology (William James, 1890). After observing the small eye movements that occurred while a person was thinking a particular thought, James wrote:
“In attending to either an idea or a sensation belonging to a particular sense-sphere, the movement is the adjustment of the sense-organ, felt as it occurs. I cannot think in visual terms, or example, without feeling a fluctuating play of pressures, convergences, divergences, and accommodations in my eyeballs…When I try to remember or reflect, the movements in question. . .feel like a sort of withdrawal from the outer world. As far as I can detect, these feelings are due to an actual rolling outwards and upwards of the eyeballs.”Principles of Psychology (pp. 193-195)
According to NLP theory, certain eye movements are associated with specific types of thoughts or mental processes. For example, looking up to the left is said to be associated with accessing visual memories, while looking down to the right is said to be associated with accessing auditory memories. NLP practitioners may use eye movements as part of an assessment of a person's thoughts and emotional state and may also use eye movement techniques as a way to help people change their thoughts or behaviours.
Notation and Strategies
In documenting mental strategies and processing through the senses, NLP practitioners often use a simple shorthand for different modalities, using a letter to indicate the representational system concerned and often a superscript to indicate how that system is being used. Three key aspects are commonly notated: the representational system being used (visual/V, auditory/A, kinesthetic/K and, occasionally, O/G), whether the direction of attention is internal (i) or external (e), and whether the event is a recollection of an actual past event ® or construction of an imaginary event ©. Due to its importance in human cognitive processing, auditory internal dialogue, or talking in one's head, has its own shorthand: Aid.
Putting these together, this is a very simplified example of some steps which might actually be involved in replying to a simple question such as “Do you like that dress?” The table below is useful for teaching how to identify and access each representational system in context:
| Step | Activity | Notation | What it is used for |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | auditory external | Ae | Hear the question |
| 2 | visual internal | Vi | Picture the meaning of the question |
| 3 | visual external | Ve | Look at the dress |
| 4 | visual internal constructed | Vic | Create a mental image of the dress worn by the person |
| 5 | kinesthetic internal | Ki | Get an internal feeling from looking at it |
| 6 | auditory internal dialogue | Aid | Ask oneself, 'Do I like that impression?' |
| 7 | auditory external | Ae | Reply |
Logically, these or similar steps must take place somewhere in consciousness to make cognitive sense of the question and answer it. A sequence of this kind is known in NLP as a strategy – in this case, a functional outline of the strategy used by the mind in answering that question. In a similar way, the process leading to a panic attack of the form “I see the clock, ask myself where the kids are, imagine everything that could be happening and feel scared” might be notated as having a subjective structure: Ve → Aid → Vic → Ki, signifying that an external sight leads to internal dialogue (a question), followed by internal and constructed images, leading to a feeling.
Note: NLP does not say that it is 'always' this way, but rather that one should check whether reliable correlations seem to exist for an individual and, if so, what they are.
Common (but not universal) Western layout of eye-accessing cues:
- Upwards (left/right) – Visual (V) – “I can
imaginethe bigpicture”
- Level (left/right) – Auditory (A) – “Let's
tonedown thediscussion”
- Down-right – Kinesthetic (K) – “to
graspa concept” or “togatherthat you have understood.”
- Down-left – Auditory internal dialogue (Aid) – talking to oneself internally
Source: Wikipedia · CC-BY-SA-3.0
Do It Yourself
It is important to note that while there is some evidence to support the idea that eye movements are related to internal representations, this is still an area of active research and there is not yet a consensus among experts in the field. Some research has found a relationship between eye movements and internal representations, while other research has not.
Here is a way for you to test the NLP patterns on yourself.4) Find someone and ask them to ask you questions like the following to notice the different movements:
Visual Remembered: Think of the colour of the first car you ever drove. What is the colour of the font on your toothpaste?
Visual Construction: What would a green rabbit look like? What would be the colour of your dream car?
Auditory Remembered: What is your favourite song? What was the first thing you heard today?
Auditory Constructed: What would your favourite song sound like if it was sung by Donald Trump? What would the national anthem sound like if it was sung by Bob Marley?
Auditory Digital (Internal Self-Talk): Can you count backwards from 3754 back to 3745, inside your head? What is the thing you say to yourself the most?
Kinesthetic: What would it feel like if you were walking on hot sand right now? What does it feel like to walk in the rain?