Visual Cues – Part 2

Last week we started the discussion on visual cues. We discussed the fact that people move their eyes when they are thinking and that this valuable information could be a powerful indicator as to whether they are visualizing pictures, thinking about sounds, tapping into their feelings or talking to themselves.{{more}}

Did you do the exercise? If not here it is again:

This is best done with a partner, but you can try it yourself (although it may be more difficult).

For every question, as you think of your answer, pay attention to the direction in which your eyes (or your partner’s eyes) move (to the side, up or down). If your eyes do not move, do you get the sense that even if it is only a fraction of a second that you are looking in a certain direction?

Consider the following questions:

1. What will you look like in 10 years?

2. What is the colour of your refrigerator?

3. What would your voice sound like if you had water in your mouth?

4. What does your favourite song sound like?

5. What does it feel like to soak in a nice hot bathtub?

6. When you talk to yourself, what type of voice do you use?

You or your partner may have noticed that for the first two questions your eyes had the tendency to look up. For questions 3 and 4 your eyes had the tendency to look to the side and for the last two questions there was a tendency to look down.

This is because:

1. When we are visualizing pictures in our mind our eyes tend to move up to the left or to the right.

2. When we are thinking of sound our eyes move laterally to the left or right

3. When we accessing our feelings or talking to ourselves our eyes move down to the left or to the right.

To be more specific let us look at the eye pattern chart. The one you are now looking at was designed for a right handed person (if you are left handed please interchange left and right).

• Question 1 – Eyes up and to our left. — Visual remembered (VR).

-This is a question about something we have seen before and hence we remembered it.

• Question 2 – Eyes up and to our right. — Visual constructed (VC).

-This is a question about something we may not have seen before and hence we constructed this picture.

• Question 3 – Eyes on the horizontal plane to our left- Auditory remembered (AR).

-This is a question about something we have heard before.

• Question 4 – Eyes on the horizontal plane to your right-Auditory constructed (AC).

-This is a question about something we may not have heard before.

• Question 5 – Eyes down and to the left.- Auditory digital (AD).

-This is a question about our self talk.

• Question 6 – Eyes down and to the right- Kinesthetic (K).

-This is a question about our feelings.

Remember that the above explanation is for right handed persons only.

For left-handed persons-Please use the reverse chart (mirror image chart).

This valuable information can be used for all kinds of purposes. The most popular use is to test truthfulness and congruence. Of course there are exceptions to the rule. Next week we will see how we can apply this information to determine if someone is describing something they may have seen or heard or if they are simply making it up.

Have a great week!

Dr Kenneth Onu is a resident Consultant Ophthalmologist at the Beachmont Eye Institute/Eyes R Us Send questions to: Beachmont@gmail.com

Tel: 784 456-1210