Eliciting thinking patterns through eye movement

In the late seventies and early eighties researchers discovered that people move their eyes in a certain way when they think.

Students were asked a series of questions and the researchers noticed that their eye movements, when thinking, followed a structured pattern.

They realised that by looking at someone's eyes, you could tell HOW they think.

You can tell the way they are constructing their thoughts.

The above picture is how the person looks when you are facing them.

There is a basic rule that says when:

People are looking up - They are visualising

People look horizontally to the left and right - They are remembering or constructing sounds

People look down and to their left - They are accessing their feelings.

People look down and to the right - They are talking to themselves

Visual Recall

This is when you are seeing images from the past. You are recalling them from memory and are things that you have seen before.

Questions to ask?

"What did your curtains look like when you were a teenager?"
"What does your car look like?"

Visual Construct

When you are visualising something you have never seen before or you are making something up in your head you are using visual construct.

Sometimes you can use this one to see if people are lying to you!

Questions to ask?

"What would your car look like if it had a soft top?"
"What would you house look like if it were painted red?"
What would you look like if you lost 3 stone in weight?"

Auditory Recall

This is when you are remember sounds or voices that you have heard before or things that you have said to yourself before.

When you ask someone "What was the last thing I said?" they normally look in that direction.

Questions to ask?

"Can you remember the sound of your fathers voice?"
"Can you remember what you said to yourself when you did that?"
"What was the last thing I said?"

Auditory Construct

This is when you are making sounds up that you have never heard before.

Questions to ask?

"What would the national anthem sound like if it were played on the flute?"
"What would I sound like if I were fluent in Spanish?"

Kinaesthetic

When you are accessing your feelings you tend to look in this direction.

Questions to ask?

"What does it feel like to touch this sand paper?"
"What does it feel like to be so popular?"

Internal Auditory

This is where your eyes go when you are having internal dialogue and talking to yourself.

Questions to ask?

"Can you so over in your mind - All I need is within me now"
"Can you recite to yourself 'Three Lions'"

We can elicit someone's strategy then by listening to the words that they use and how they move their eyes.

In order to communicate effectively we need to absorb these action signals and then modify our behaviour, physiology and the words that we use to best mirror and match their preferred learning and thinking style.

After all, communication is all about rapport building - it is a relationship between two or more people.