Representational systems (NLP)


Representational systems representational system in which they are more able to vividly create an experience in terms of that representational system, tend to use that representational system more often than the others, and have more distinctions available in that representation system than the others. So for example a person that most highly values their visual representation system is able to easily and vividly visualise things and has a tendency to do so in preference to creating or recreating an experience in terms of the other representational system.
Representational systems are one of the foundational ideas of NLP and form the basis of many NLP techniques and methods.

Representational systems within NLP

For many practical purposes, according to NLP, mental processing of events and memories can be treated as if performed by the five senses. For example, Albert Einstein credited his discovery of special relativity to a mental visualization strategy of "sitting on the end of a ray of light", and many people as part of decision-making talk to themselves in their heads.
The manner in which this is done, and the effectiveness of the mental strategy employed, is stated by NLP to play a critical part in the way mental processing takes place. This observation led to the concept of a preferred representational system, the classification of people into fixed visual, auditory or kinesthetic stereotypes. This idea was later discredited and dropped within NLP by the early 1980s, in favor of the understanding that most people use all of their senses, and that whilst one system may seem to dominate, this is often contextualized - globally there is a balance that dynamically varies according to circumstance and mood.
NLP asserts that for most circumstances and most people, three of the five sensory based modes seem to dominate in mental processing:
The other two senses, gustatory and olfactory, which are closely associated, often seem to be less significant in general mental processing, and are often considered jointly as one.
For this reason, one often sees the term VAK in NLP reference texts, to signify these three primary representational systems, as well as the term 4-tuple if the author wishes to include all senses including taste/smell. The same term is also known as First Access, or primary experience.

Notation and strategies

In documenting mental strategies and processing by the senses, NLP practitioners often use a simple shorthand for different modalities, with a letter indicating the representation system concerned, and often, a superscript to indicate how that system is being used. Three key aspects are commonly notated: The representation system being used, whether the direction of attention is internal or external , and whether the event is a recollection of an actual past event or construction of an imaginary event . Due to its importance in human cognitive processing, auditory internal dialogue, or talking in one's head, has its own shorthand: Aid.
Putting these together, this is a very simplified example of some steps which might actually be involved in replying to a simple question such as "Do you like that dress?". The table below is useful for teaching how to identify and access each representational system in context:
Logically, these or similar steps must take place somewhere in consciousness in order to cognitively make sense of the question and answer it. A sequence of this kind is known in NLP as a strategy - in this case, a functional outline of the strategy used by the mind in answering that question. In a similar way, the process leading to a panic attack of the form "I see the clock, ask myself where the kids are, imagine everything that could be happening and feel scared" might be notated as having a subjective structure: Ve → Aid → Vic → Ki, signifying that an external sight leads to internal dialog, followed by internal and constructed images, leading to a feeling.
Generally speaking, most human perceptual and cognitive processing occurs before conscious awareness. For example, few people would ordinarily be aware that between question and even considering an answer, there must be steps in which the mind interprets and contextualizes the question itself, and steps which explore various possible strategies to be used to obtain an answer and select one to be followed. The mental occurrence of these steps is often identified by deduction following skilled observation, or by careful inquiry, although their presence is usually self-apparent to the person concerned once noticed.

Sensory predicates and eye accessing cues

Grinder and Bandler believed they identified pattern of relationship between the sensory-based language people use in general conversation, and for example, their eye movement.
A common style of processing in the West is shown in the attached chart, where eye flickers in specific directions often seem to tie into specific kinds of internal processing.
NLP also suggests that sometimes such processing is associated with sensory word use; for example, a person asked what they liked about the beach, may flick their eyes briefly in some characteristic direction and then also use words that describe it in a visual sense. Likewise asked about a problem, someone may look in a different direction for a while and then look puzzled and say "I just can't seem to get a grip on things". Taken together, NLP suggests such eye accessing cues are idiosyncratic and habitual for each person, and may form significant clues as to how a person is processing or representing a problem to themselves unconsciously.

Common Western layout of eye accessing cues:
Eye movement to the left or right for many people seems to indicate if a memory was recalled or constructed. Thus remembering an actual image is associated more with up-left, whilst imagining one's dream home tends to be more associated with up-right.

Subjective awareness

When we think about the world, or about our past experiences, we represent those things inside our heads. For example, think about the holiday you went on last year. Did you see a picture of where you went, tell yourself a story about what you did, feel the sun on your back and the wind in your hair? Can you bring to mind the smell of your favourite flower or the taste of a favourite meal??
The use of the various modalities can be identified based by learning to respond to subtle shifts in breathing, body posture, accessing cues, gestures, eye movement and language patterns such as sensory predicates.

Uses

NLP's interest in the senses is not so much in their role as bridges to the outside world, but in their role as internal channels for cognitive processing and interpretation. In an NLP perspective, it is not very important per se whether a person sees or hears some memory. By contrast, NLP views it as potentially of great importance for the same person, to discover that some auditory sounds presented almost out of consciousness along with the memory, may be how the brain presents to consciousness, and how consciousness knows, whether this is a heart-warming pleasant memory, or a fearsome phobic one.
Representational systems are also relevant since some tasks are better performed within one representational system than by another. For example, within education, spelling is better learned by children who have unconsciously used a strategy of visualization, than an unconscious strategy of phonetically "sounding out". When taught to visualize, previously poor spellers can indeed be taught to improve. NLP proponents also found that pacing and leading the various cues tended to build rapport, and allowed people to communicate more effectively. Certain studies suggest that using similar representational systems to another person can help build rapport whilst other studies have found that merely mimicking or doing so in isolation is perceived negatively.
Skinner and Stephens explored the use of the model of representational systems in television marketing and communications.
Some exercises in NLP training involve learning how to observe and respond to the various cues in real time.

The preferred representational system (PRS)

Originally NLP taught that people preferred one representational system over another. People could be stuck by thinking about a problem in their "preferred representational system". Some took this idea further and categorised people as auditory, kinesthetic, and visual thinkers. It was claimed that swifter and more effective results could be achieved by matching this preferred system. Although there is some research that supports the notion that eye movement can indicate visual and auditory components of thought in that moment, the existence of a preferred representational system ascertainable from external cues was discounted by research in the 1980s. Some still believe the PRS model to be important for enhancing rapport and influence. Others have de-emphasized its relevance and instead emphasize that people constantly use all representational systems. In particular, new code emphasizes individual calibration and sensory acuity, precluding such a rigidly specified model as the one described above. Responding directly to sensory experience requires an immediacy which respects the importance of context. John Grinder has stated that a representational system diagnosis lasts about 30 seconds.
In a review of research findings, Sharpley found little support for individuals to have a "preferred" representational system, whether in the choice of words or direction of eye movement, and the concept of a preferred representation system. Similarly, The National Research Committee found little support for the influence of PRS as presented in early descriptions of NLP, Frogs into Princes and Structure of Magic. However, "at a meeting with Richard Bandler in Santa Cruz, California, on July 9, 1986, the influence subcommittee... was informed that PRS was no longer considered an important component of NLP. He said that NLP had been revised." The NLP developers, Robert Dilts et al. proposed that eye movement correspond to accessing cues for representations systems, and connected it to specific sides in the brain.