NLP Eye Movements and Modalities

Eye Movements are a commonly attributed to NLP and there is a great model that shares what it can mean when the eyes move in certain directions. As with all NLP models, this is a generalisation. What that means is that generally it will be true, but it won’t be true all of the time. Keep reading to discover more about how NLP puts meaning to the micro-movements of the eyes.

NLP is about noticing patterns. So, in NLP, we are not so much interested in content as in process. Often this can be an interesting transition to make. The first step is to pay attention to the process of your interactions with others — listen to the form, watch the form, feel the form, and not get involved in the content. We’re interested in how things are done, and not necessarily why or with specific details regarding content.

Of course, the next question then, is how specifically do you “listen to the form, watch the form, feel the form,” and not get involved in the content? The “modalities” are one way of categorising exactly what a person does inside their head as they think. They are a way or a model for the process that a person does in their head as they make up an Internal Representation. In the process of creating NLP, Bandler and Grinder discovered that by looking at someone’s eyes, you could tell how they were thinking. Not what they were thinking, but how. You could tell what they were doing inside their heads.

Based on observations by the original researchers, when people look up, they’re visualising. When they look horizontally to the left and right, they’re either remembering or constructing sounds. When they look downward and to our left, they’re accessing their feelings. And when they look downward and to our right, they’re talking to themselves (Auditory digital).

*Note: The chart above is for a normally organised right-handed person. Many left-handed people and some ambidextrous people will have eye movements that are reversed.

Here is more of an explanation about what each of the eye movements mean.

Vr: Visual Remembered
(Visual Recall) — Seeing images from memory, recalling things you have seen before.

Vc: Visual Constructed
(Visual Created) — Images of things that you have never seen before. When you are making it up in their head, you are using Visual Constructed.
(NOTE: A small percentage of people access visual modalities by defocusing their eyes. When this happens, the eyes will usually stay in the centre.)

Ar: Auditory Remembered
(Auditory Recall) — When you remember sounds or voices that you’ve heard before or things that you’ve said to yourself before.

Ac: Auditory Constructed
(Auditory Created) — Making up sounds that you’ve not heard before. For example

K: Kinesthetic
(Feelings, Sense of touch) — You generally look in this direction when you’re accessing your feelings, or recall the physical feeling of touching something.

Ad: Auditory Digital
(Talking to Yourself) — This is where your eyes move when you’re having internal dialogue.

Typically, every time we access information, we move our eyes in that particular direction which facilitates using that part of our neurology. The mind and body are absolutely interconnected, so each time we access our visual memory, for example, we move our eyes upward and to our left. (If you’re watching someone access visual memory, you will see them move their eyes upward and to your right.)

If you would like more information about NLP Eye Movements then drop us an email or give us a call. We also have a handy list of questions that you can ask to test and discover the eye movements with a partner. Contact Lloyd on lloyd@confidentfuture.com.au for more information.

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