What are NLP submodalities?
In Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP), submodalities are the sensory details people may notice within an internal experience. For a mental image, these details might include:
Brightness
Size
Distance
Location
Color or black-and-white quality
Movement
Focus or sharpness
Whether the image appears associated with or separate from the observer
For an internal sound, submodalities might include:
Volume
Pitch
Speed
Rhythm
Direction
Distance
Whether the sound seems internal or external
For an internal bodily sensation, often called a kinesthetic experience, they might include:
Location
Temperature
Pressure
Movement
Intensity
Texture
Weight
Shape
NLP uses the term to describe fine-grained qualities of subjective experience. The idea is that a person’s experience may involve not only what they are thinking about, but also how that thought is represented in consciousness.
Why are submodalities important in NLP?
NLP practitioners use submodalities to help people describe experiences more precisely. Instead of saying, “I feel anxious,” a person might examine the experience in greater detail:
Is there an image?
Is it close or far away?
Is it vivid or faint?
Is there an internal voice?
Is that voice loud or quiet?
Is there a bodily sensation?
Where is it located?
Does it move or remain still?
This kind of description can make an experience easier to observe and discuss. It may also help distinguish between different situations that are often given the same label. For example, “anxiety” might refer to nervous anticipation in one situation and a physical stress response in another.
The practical value of this process is best understood as a form of structured self-observation. It does not establish that changing a sensory quality will reliably change an emotion, and it should not be presented as a proven treatment by itself.
What does “modality” mean in NLP?
In NLP, a modality generally refers to a sensory system or representational system. The commonly discussed modalities are:
Visual: images, pictures, colors, brightness, and spatial arrangement
Auditory: sounds, words, tone, volume, and rhythm
Kinesthetic: bodily sensations, movement, pressure, temperature, and related feelings
Some NLP materials also discuss:
Olfactory: smell
Gustatory: taste
Auditory digital: internal verbal thought or self-talk
A submodality is a more specific quality within one of these categories. For instance, “visual” is a modality, while “small, dim, distant, and black-and-white” describes visual submodalities.
What is an example of a visual submodality?
Suppose you remember giving a presentation. You might notice that the memory appears as:
A large image
In bright color
Close to your face
Moving like a video
In sharp focus
Those are features of the internal representation. You could then compare that memory with another memory that appears:
Smaller
Dimmer
Farther away
More like a still photograph
Less sharply focused
The two memories may concern different events, but the comparison draws attention to how each is represented internally.
What is an example of an auditory submodality?
Imagine recalling a critical comment. You might notice:
The words sound loud
The voice seems close
The tone is harsh
The speech is fast
The sound comes from one side
You might compare this with a supportive comment that seems quieter, slower, warmer, and farther away.
These observations describe the qualities of the remembered sound. They do not prove that the sound exists outside the person’s mind, nor do they show that changing those qualities will produce a predictable emotional result.
What is an example of a kinesthetic submodality?
A person thinking about an upcoming appointment might notice:
Tightness in the chest
A sensation moving upward
Warmth in the face
Pressure in the stomach
A heavy feeling in the shoulders
A tingling sensation in the hands
These features can be described without assuming a particular diagnosis or cause. Physical sensations can have many possible explanations, including ordinary emotional responses, medical conditions, medication effects, fatigue, and other factors. Persistent, severe, or concerning symptoms should be discussed with a qualified health professional.
What is the difference between a primary representation and a submodality?
A primary representation is the broader sensory form of an experience—for example, an image, a sound, or a bodily sensation.
A submodality is a specific feature within that representation.
For example:
Primary representation: a mental image
Submodalities: brightness, size, distance, color, focus, and movement
Or:
Primary representation: an internal sound
Submodalities: volume, pitch, speed, location, and tone
The distinction is useful because it encourages more detailed observation rather than treating an experience as a single, undifferentiated event.
Are submodalities the same for everyone?
No. People differ in how they experience and describe internal events. Some people report vivid mental imagery, while others report little or no visual imagery. Some notice internal speech clearly, while others think primarily through images, bodily sensations, concepts, or a combination of forms.
Even when two people use the same word, such as “fear” or “confidence,” their experiences may differ in sensory qualities. A careful conversation therefore asks the person what they notice rather than assuming that everyone represents an experience in the same way.
Research on mental imagery has found substantial individual differences in imagery vividness, including people who report very limited voluntary visual imagery.¹ This is one reason submodality questions should be open-ended and descriptive rather than treated as a fixed system that applies identically to every person.
Are submodalities scientifically established?
The general idea that people have subjective sensory experiences is not controversial. People can describe images, sounds, bodily sensations, memories, expectations, and thoughts in many different ways.
However, the broader claims made in some NLP materials require more caution. NLP has proposed specific models about how people represent experience and how changing representational details may affect thoughts, emotions, or behavior. Reviews of NLP research have found limited support for some distinctive NLP claims and have questioned whether NLP has a strong, coherent evidence base as a therapeutic approach.² ³
Therefore, it is more accurate to describe submodalities as an NLP framework for examining subjective experience than as a scientifically established mechanism that reliably changes psychological states.
Can changing a submodality change how I feel?
It may change how an experience seems to some people, at least temporarily. For example, a person might find that imagining a troubling picture as smaller or more distant makes it feel less immediate. Another person might notice little or no change.
Responses can vary because emotions are influenced by many factors, including the meaning of an event, current circumstances, learning history, physical state, attention, and expectations. A change in imagery may be useful as a personal reflection exercise, but it should not be treated as a guaranteed method or a substitute for appropriate care.
If an exercise increases distress, stop it and return attention to the present environment. Grounding methods such as noticing the room, feeling both feet on the floor, breathing comfortably, and contacting a trusted person may be appropriate, depending on the situation.
What is a typical NLP submodality exercise?
A basic exercise might proceed as follows:
Choose a mild example. Select an ordinary memory or concern rather than the most distressing experience in your life.
Notice the representation. Ask whether the experience appears mainly as an image, sound, bodily sensation, words, or a mixture.
Describe the details. Observe qualities such as size, distance, brightness, volume, location, movement, or intensity.
Record the experience. Briefly note what you observed and how strong the experience felt.
Make one small adjustment. For example, imagine the image becoming slightly smaller or the sound becoming quieter.
Check your response. Notice whether anything changed, stayed the same, or became stronger.
Return to the present. Look around the room and notice current sights, sounds, and bodily contact with the environment.
This exercise is best viewed as guided self-observation. It is not a diagnostic test, and there is no requirement to find a particular answer.
What questions can I ask about a visual representation?
Useful, non-leading questions include:
Is there an image?
Is it still or moving?
Is it in color or black and white?
Is it bright, dim, or somewhere in between?
Is it near or far?
Is it large, small, or life-sized?
Is it sharply focused or blurry?
Do you see the event through your own eyes, or do you see yourself in the scene?
Is the image stable, changing, or difficult to hold?
A person may answer “I do not know,” “I do not notice anything,” or “I do not form pictures.” Those answers are valid and should not be forced into a visual description.
What questions can I ask about an auditory representation?
You might ask:
Is there a sound or internal voice?
Is it loud or quiet?
Is it fast or slow?
Is the pitch high, low, or neutral?
Does it have a particular tone?
Does it seem close or far away?
Does it come from a particular direction?
Is it a single phrase, a conversation, music, or another sound?
Is it constant, repeating, or changing?
These questions should be asked carefully. An internal voice in ordinary self-talk is not necessarily the same as hearing a voice as an external or involuntary experience. If someone is distressed by voices, feels unsafe, or has difficulty distinguishing perceptions from reality, professional evaluation is important.
What questions can I ask about a kinesthetic representation?
You might ask:
Where do you notice the sensation?
Is it still or moving?
Does it have a shape or boundary?
Is it light, heavy, tight, loose, warm, or cool?
Does its intensity change?
Does it expand, contract, rise, fall, or rotate?
Is it on the surface of the body or deeper inside?
What happens when you observe it without trying to change it?
These questions are intended to support description, not to assign a medical meaning to the sensation.
Are submodalities related to sensory processing?
Submodalities are related to the broad fact that people use sensory information in thinking and remembering. Cognitive science and psychology study mental imagery, perception, memory, attention, and bodily experience using different theories and methods.
NLP’s terminology should not automatically be treated as equivalent to a standard scientific model. Terms can sound familiar while being used differently in different fields. A responsible explanation should separate the everyday observation—that experiences have qualities—from stronger claims about how those qualities work or how reliably they can be changed.
Are submodalities part of evidence-based psychotherapy?
Submodality exercises may appear in coaching, personal-development programs, or NLP-based practice. That does not by itself establish that they are effective treatments for a mental health condition.
Evidence-based psychotherapy usually involves a clearly defined approach supported by suitable research, attention to risks and benefits, appropriate training, and assessment of the person’s needs. A practitioner should not claim that submodalities can replace treatment for depression, trauma, anxiety disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorder, psychosis, or other health conditions.
For significant or persistent distress, a licensed mental health professional can help determine what kind of support may be appropriate.
Can submodalities be used in coaching?
Some coaches use submodality questions to help clients clarify goals, examine mental rehearsal, or notice how they respond to imagined situations. This may be reasonable when the activity remains within coaching’s proper limits and does not involve diagnosing or treating mental health conditions.
A responsible coach should:
Explain what the exercise involves
Ask permission before guiding imagery
Avoid promising predictable results
Respect a person’s way of thinking
Stop if the exercise causes distress
Refer the client to an appropriate health professional when needed
What are the main limitations of the submodality concept?
Several limitations deserve attention:
Descriptions are subjective. People may use different words for similar experiences, and the same word may mean different things to different people.
Not everyone experiences vivid imagery. Some people have limited or absent voluntary visual imagery.¹
Effects are not guaranteed. A change in an imagined picture or sound may help one person and do nothing for another.
Context matters. Emotional responses depend on more than sensory qualities.
The research base is limited for distinctive NLP claims. Reviews have not established strong evidence for NLP as a whole or for all of its proposed mechanisms.² ³
The approach is not a diagnosis. Submodality descriptions cannot determine the cause of a symptom.
Distress requires care. Intense trauma memories, panic, dissociation, self-harm thoughts, or unusual perceptual experiences call for appropriate professional support rather than unsupervised experimentation.
How should submodalities be explained accurately?
A careful explanation can use the following wording:
Submodalities are sensory details within a person’s internal experience, such as the size and brightness of a mental image or the volume and tone of an internal sound. NLP practitioners use questions about these details to help people describe their experiences. The idea may be useful as a reflective exercise, but claims about reliable emotional or therapeutic effects require appropriate evidence.
This wording keeps the useful descriptive part while avoiding claims that go beyond the evidence.
What is the simplest definition of NLP submodalities?
NLP submodalities are the specific sensory qualities of an internal experience—for example, the size, distance, brightness, volume, location, movement, or intensity of an imagined image, sound, or bodily sensation.
They offer a vocabulary for noticing how thoughts and memories are experienced. They are best used with curiosity, flexibility, and appropriate caution—not as a guaranteed treatment method.
Notes
Adam Zeman, Michaela Milton, Devin Della Sala, “The Eye’s Mind: Exploring the Neuropsychology of Visual Imagination,” Cortex 105 (2018): 1–4.
Tomasz Witkowski, “Thirty-Five Years of Research on Neuro-Linguistic Programming. NLP Research Data Base. State of the Art or Pseudoscientific Decoration?” Polish Psychological Bulletin 42, no. 2 (2011): 58–66.
Tomasz Witkowski and Maciej Zatonski, Psychology Gone Wrong: The Dark Sides of Science and Therapy, BrownWalker Press, 2015.