Describing experience using the 4-tuple

Modalities are the representational systems: visual (V), auditory (A), kinesthetic (K), olfactory (O) and gustatory (G). We take in information from the external (e) world using our five senses , and those same five senses are used internally (i) to process information. We see pictures, hear sounds, feel feelings and also we are able to smell and taste internally. Our ongoing experience can be usefully coded as consisting of some combination of these sensory classes. In NLP we represent and abbreviate the expression of on-going sensory experience as a ‘4-tuple’.

The 4-tuple is shown symbolically as: <>

Here the capital letters are abbreviations for the five senses or representational systems:

• A =auditory (hearing),
  
• V = Visual (seeing),
  
• K = Kinesthetic (feeling),
• O/G = Olfactory/Gustatory (smelling/tasting)

The superscripts (in parentheses) ‘e’ and ‘i’ indicate whether the representations are coming from sources external, to us (e = external), as when we are looking at, listening to, feeling, smelling or tasting something that is outside of us, or whether they are internally generated, (i = internal), as when we are remembering or imagining some image, sound, feeling smell or taste. We can also show the 4tuple iconically as:

Using the 4-tuple we can usefully describe our on going experience. For example, let me describe my experience right now as I am reading this book::

Ai = Auditory internal - I hear the tempo and tonal qualities of my internal dialogue as I read the words to myself. (Auditory internally generated)

Ve = Visual external - I see the typed words of the website, the lighting pattern in the room (Visual externally generated)

Ke = Kinesthetic external - I fell the chair, and the temperature of the room. (Kinesthetic externally generated)

O/Ge = Olfactory/Gustatory external - I can smell the flowers in the room and the freshness of the air. (Olfactory/Gustatory externally generated)

Here I just described my total conscious on-going experience using the 4-tuple. You can use the 4-tuple to describe any on-going experience. Try describing your on-going experience now using the 4-tuple.