//NLP Eye Movement & Eye Accessing Cues


What are nlp eye movements?

Eye movements in nlp are no different to any other eye movements you may see when looking at someone but during the development of neuro linguistic programming it was discovered that movement of the eyes to a certain place meant a particular thing.  As a result eye movements became known as eye accessing cues, or eye patterns, within the field of nlp.

 

What do the eye accessing cues tell us?

As you probably know by now people use different 'representational systems' when they are talking about things.  Some people use very visual language such as 'I see what you're saying', 'I get the picture'.  Some are more auditory and use words such as 'That sounds great', 'That's music to my ears'.  Other people are more kinaesthetic and will talk about their 'gut instinct' and 'getting a firm grasp of things'.  In addition there are some who prefer a system known in nlp terms as auditory digital so they will 'get a sense of what's going on' and 'need time to process the information'.

 

Constructed and remembered

On top of the different way we use of representing information in our head we also have the capacity to remember events, people, things we have experienced at some point in our past and construct a representation of what those things may be like in the future.

 

How do we read eye movements?

The NLP eye pattern chart is a very simple tool that shows a variety of places people look when thinking and processing information about certain things.  This chart is applicable to approximately 75% of the population.  The remaining 25% are 'reverse organised' which means they simply do things on the opposite side.

 

NLP eye pattern chart

To use this chart for help with understanding eye movements and eye accessing cues imagine you are looking at someone face on.  If they:

Look UP and to the LEFT this means they are constructing a visual image (visual construct)

Look to the SIDE and to the LEFT this means they are constructing an auditory representation (auditory construct)

Look DOWN and to the LEFT this mean they are exploring how they feel about something (kinaesthetic)

Look UP and to the RIGHT this means they are remembering something seeing a picture of it (visual recall)

Look to the SIDE and to the RIGHT this means they are remembering a particular sound/voice/piece of music (auditory recall)

Look DOWN and to the RIGHT this means they are talking to themselves to assess the situation (auditory digital)

 

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You may also be interested in the following areas of nlp information:

NLP - an explanation

Learn NLP - how to choose an nlp course

NLP glossary - a guide to nlp terminology