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Buckner M, Meara N M, Reese E J, Reese M: Eye movement as an indicator of sensory components in thought.
Journal of Counseling Psychology 34(3): 283-287, 1987.
Abstract: This study investigated a claim of the Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) eye movement model, which states that specific eye movements are indicative of specific sensory components in thought. Forty-eight graduates and undergraduates were asked to concentrate on a single thought while their eye movements are videotaped. They were subsequently asked to report if their thought contained visual, auditory, or kinesthetic components. Two NLP-trained observers independently viewed silent videotapes of participants concentrating and recorded the presence or absence of eye movements posited by NLP theorists to indicate visual, auditory, or kinesthetic components in thought. Coefficients of agreement (Cohen's K) between participants' self-reports and trained observers' records indicate support for the visual (K=.81, p<.001) and auditory (K=.65, p<.001) portions of the model. The kinesthetic (K=.15, p<.85) portion was not supported. Interrater agreement (K=.82) supports the NLP claim the specific eye movement patterns exist and that trained observers can reliably identify them.