Abstract:

PURPOSE OF THE STUDY: The purpose of this study was to investigate the Neurolinguistic Programming (NLP) hypothesis of eye accessing cues. In order to accomplish this purpose a series of hypotheses were formulated and tested. These hypotheses concerned the relationship of eye movements to cerebral activation, gender, spouses within a marital dyad, and a videotape recording procedure.

PROCEDURE: A series of questions were administered to 70 right-handed subjects. The subjects were composed of a group of married couples and a group of individual subjects. Half of the married subjects and half of the individual subjects were videotaped during questioning. The stimulus questions were designed to elicit specific eye movements within the following six eye movement categories: (a) eyes up and to the left; (b) eyes up and to the right; (c) eyes level and to the left; (d) eyes level and to the right; (e) eyes down and to the left; and, (f) eyes down and to the right.

FINDINGS: Significantly fewer eye movements occurred in the predicted direction than were expected. The data revealed few differences between males and females and between the videotape and the no-tape condition. However, in respect to lead system choice a significant difference was found between males and females, and between the spouses of married couples. A review of the videotapes by an independent rater indicated a moderate level of agreement between two raters of eye movements.

CONCLUSIONS: The NLP hypothesis of eye movements does not seem to adequately account for the findings of this study. The pattern of obtained eye movements suggests that subjects are able to activate cerebral processes without regard for the cognitive demands made by the stimulus question, and elicited eye movements seem related to several undefined sources of variance. Since the NLP hypothesis of eye movements was not supported, caution is suggested in the application of eye accessing cues within a counseling or educational environment. Recommendations are made for further research concerning the phenomenon of eye movements.