Representational Systems (NLP)

Representational Systems (NLP)

Representational systems (also known as sensory modalities and abbreviated to VAKOG or known as the 4-tuple) is a neuro-linguistic programming model that examines how the human mind processes information. It states that for practical purposes, information is (or can be treated as if) processed through the senses. Thus people say one talks to oneself (the auditory sense) even if no words are emitted, one makes pictures in one's head when thinking or dreaming (the visual sense), and one considers feelings in the body and emotions (known as the kinesthetic sense).

Early proponents of NLP emphasized that in human cognitive processing, the subjective character of experience is strongly associated with how memories and perceptions are processed with respect to internal sensory representations. It was found that expressions such as "It's all misty" or "I can't get a grip on it", can often be precise and almost literal unconscious descriptions from within those sensory systems, communicating unconsciously where the mind perceives a problem in handling some mental event.

Within NLP, the various senses in their role as information processors, are known as representation systems, or sensory modalities. The framework is referred to by a range of terms though most commonly the VAKOG model (from the initial letters of the sensory-specific modalities: visual, auditory, kinesthetic, olfactory, gustatory) or some derivation. A more comprehensive representation could come from the 6-tuple meaning a 4-way sensory-based description (VAKOG plus internal dialog); Conversely, and on the basis of the lack of additional information gained by separating taste and smell, sometimes the 4-tuple (VAKO-G) was preferred. A "submodality" is a structural element of a sensory impression, such as its perceived location, distance, size, or other quality.

Representational systems and "submodalities" are seen in NLP as offering a valuable therapeutic insight (or metaphor) and potential working methods, into how the human mind internally organizes and subjectively attaches meaning to events.