Eye Accessing Cues
Where do you look?
Have you ever noticed that people’s eyes move when they are thinking? This is valuable information that can provides us with clues as to whether they are thinking in pictures, sounds, feelings or talking to themselves. Or, in other words, information about their lead and preferred representational systems.
William James (Principles of Psychology, 1890) first suggested that internal representations and eye movements may be related. This observation was not explored further until the 1970’s when Richard Bandler, John Grinder, Robert Dilts and others conducted further experimentation in this area.
According to neurological research, eye movement both laterally and vertically seems to be associated with activating different parts of the brain. In the neurological literature, these movements are called lateral eye movements (LEM) and in NLP we call them eye accessing cues because they give us insights as to how people are accessing information.
To get an idea how your eyes move, consider the following questions. For each question, as you think of the answer, notice the direction(s) your eyes move (up down or to the side) or if your eyes do not seem to move notice if you have a sense that you are looking in a certain direction (even if only for a fraction of a second).
1. What is the colour of your front door?
2. What will you look like in 15 years?
3. What does your favourite music sound like?
4. What would your voice sound like if you had marbles in your mouth?
5. When you talk to yourself, what type of voice do you use?
6. What does it feel like to be in a nice warm bath?
Did you notice your eyes had a tendency to look up for the first two questions, to the side for the next two questions and down for the last two questions? In general, if you are making a picture in your mind your eyes will tend to go up to the left or the right, for sounds laterally to the left or right, and down to the left or right for feelings or when you talk to yourself.
More specifically, if you are right-handed, you may have noticed the following (for people who are left handed, interchange left and right in the following text):
Question 1 - eyes up and to your left. This is a question about something you have seen before and hence you remembered it -- visual remembered (VR).
Question 2 - eyes up and to your right. This is a question about something that I assume you have not seen before and hence you constructed this picture - visual constructed (VC).
Question 3 - eyes on the horizontal plane to your left. This is a question about something you have heard before - auditory remembered (AR).
Question 4 - eyes on the horizontal plane to your right. This is a question about something you have not heard before - auditory constructed (AC).
Question 5 - eyes down and to the left. This is a question about your self talk - auditory digital (Ad).
Question 6 - eyes down and to the right. This is a question about your feelings- kinesthetic (K).
Note: The above eye patterns are how your eyes would move if you are right-handed. The following picture describes the eye patterns for a right-handed person as you look at them - please note this distinction. These patterns are fairly consistent across all races, with the possible exception of the Basques, who appear to have a number of exceptions to the rule. For many left-handed people, the chart is reversed i.e. mirror image.
William James (Principles of Psychology, 1890) first suggested that internal representations and eye movements may be related. This observation was not explored further until the 1970’s when Richard Bandler, John Grinder, Robert Dilts and others conducted further experimentation in this area.
According to neurological research, eye movement both laterally and vertically seems to be associated with activating different parts of the brain. In the neurological literature, these movements are called lateral eye movements (LEM) and in NLP we call them eye accessing cues because they give us insights as to how people are accessing information.
To get an idea how your eyes move, consider the following questions. For each question, as you think of the answer, notice the direction(s) your eyes move (up down or to the side) or if your eyes do not seem to move notice if you have a sense that you are looking in a certain direction (even if only for a fraction of a second).
1. What is the colour of your front door?
2. What will you look like in 15 years?
3. What does your favourite music sound like?
4. What would your voice sound like if you had marbles in your mouth?
5. When you talk to yourself, what type of voice do you use?
6. What does it feel like to be in a nice warm bath?
Did you notice your eyes had a tendency to look up for the first two questions, to the side for the next two questions and down for the last two questions? In general, if you are making a picture in your mind your eyes will tend to go up to the left or the right, for sounds laterally to the left or right, and down to the left or right for feelings or when you talk to yourself.
More specifically, if you are right-handed, you may have noticed the following (for people who are left handed, interchange left and right in the following text):
Question 1 - eyes up and to your left. This is a question about something you have seen before and hence you remembered it -- visual remembered (VR).
Question 2 - eyes up and to your right. This is a question about something that I assume you have not seen before and hence you constructed this picture - visual constructed (VC).
Question 3 - eyes on the horizontal plane to your left. This is a question about something you have heard before - auditory remembered (AR).
Question 4 - eyes on the horizontal plane to your right. This is a question about something you have not heard before - auditory constructed (AC).
Question 5 - eyes down and to the left. This is a question about your self talk - auditory digital (Ad).
Question 6 - eyes down and to the right. This is a question about your feelings- kinesthetic (K).
Note: The above eye patterns are how your eyes would move if you are right-handed. The following picture describes the eye patterns for a right-handed person as you look at them - please note this distinction. These patterns are fairly consistent across all races, with the possible exception of the Basques, who appear to have a number of exceptions to the rule. For many left-handed people, the chart is reversed i.e. mirror image.
Visual Remembered
What is the colour of the shirt you wore yesterday?
Which of your friends has the shortest hair?
Visual Constructed What would your room look like if it were painted yellow with big purple circles? Can you imagine the top half of a tiger on the bottom half of an elephant?
Auditory Remembered What does your best friend’s voice sound like? Which is louder, your door bell or your telephone?
Auditory Constructed What will your voice sound like in 10 years? What would it sound like if you played your two favourite pieces of music at the same time?
Auditory Digital What is something you continually tell yourself? What are your thoughts about this article?
Kinesthetic What does it feel like to walk barefoot on a cool sandy beach? What does it feel like when you rub your fingers on sandpaper?
Visual Constructed What would your room look like if it were painted yellow with big purple circles? Can you imagine the top half of a tiger on the bottom half of an elephant?
Auditory Remembered What does your best friend’s voice sound like? Which is louder, your door bell or your telephone?
Auditory Constructed What will your voice sound like in 10 years? What would it sound like if you played your two favourite pieces of music at the same time?
Auditory Digital What is something you continually tell yourself? What are your thoughts about this article?
Kinesthetic What does it feel like to walk barefoot on a cool sandy beach? What does it feel like when you rub your fingers on sandpaper?
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