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NLP Eye Accessing Cues

By Chris Harrison - Posted September 2008

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In NLP, Eye Accessing cues are one of the more controversial subjects - simply because for every NLP practitioner who believes they are a useful tool, there is someone who doesn't believe they work at all.

To put it simply, NLP eye accessing cues are useful and very dependable, as long as you remember that they are a generalization.

When working with someone it is important to calibrate their NLP eye accessing cues to ensure that you are interpreting the signals correctly.

The list below is typical for a right handed person. Left handed people tend to have the left and right reversed.

These are the usual NLP eye accessing cues:

Movement

Mental Activity

Description

Example

Questions

Eyes up and to the right

Visual Construction (Vc)

The client is making an image of something that they have not experienced. While some element of the picture may be from memory, some elements are being constructed (imagined).

I imagine myself with red hair.

What would you look like if you had two heads?

How would you decorate this room differently?

Eyes up and to the left

Visual Remembered (Vr)

The client is remembering an image of something that happened

I remember my car.

What color is your front door?

Can you remember the cake on your fifth birthday?

Eyes right

Auditory Constructed (Ac)

The client is imagining something they have never heard before. In my opinion, this is probably the least observed accessing cue.

I imagine myself speaking in a foreign accent.

What would you sound like if you were of the opposite sex?

Eyes left

Auditory Remembered (Ar)

The client is remembering a sound from memory.

I remember the sound of my mother's voice.

What did you mother used to tell you when you misbehaved?

Eyes down and to the right

Kinesthetic (K)

The client is focusing on an internal feeling.

I notice how thinking of an uncomfortable event makes me feel.

How did you feel when she left you?

Have you ever been car sick?

Eyes down and to the left

Auditory Digital(Ad)

The client is listening to a voice inside their head.

I look at an attractive person in a bar and say to myself "you're far to ugly."

What happens when you think about walking up to an attractive stranger?

Once you have learnt the list of NLP eye accessing cues, the best thing is to observe people for a while and see if their eye movements make sense to you.

i.e. While they were talking about their new car and how flash it was, they kept looking up and to the left which suggests they're making pictures.

But do be careful with your conclusions: If a right handed person is describing that they did remember to post a letter for you, but their eyes are going up and to the right, this could suggest that they are lying. Of course without calibrating you can't be sure.

A simple way to calibrate in this instance would be to ask something that you know they can remember and see if their eyes go to the same direction or not. And remember that this must be done subtly.

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