Closing Your Eyes Boosts How Much You Can Remember

Want to remember something? Try closing your eyes. Scientists have found that people remember more accurate details when they close their eyes, which could help investigators who interview witnesses to crimes.

In order to test memory, the researchers conducted two studies with 178 participants. In the first study, volunteers watched a film depicting an electrician entering a property, carrying out jobs and stealing items. Then, each participant was randomly assigned one of four conditions-either eyes closed or open, and having built up a rapport with the interviewer or not. They were then asked a series of questions about the film. In the end, the researchers found that volunteers with their eyes closed answered 23 percent more of the questions correctly.

The second study took the memory task on step further. Researchers asked witnesses about things they had heard as well as what they had seen. Just like the first study, the volunteers performed between when their eyes were closed. That said, the volunteers who established a rapport with the interviewer felt more comfortable while closing their eyes.

"It is clear from our research that closing the eyes and building rapport help with witness recall," said Robert Nash, the lead author of the study, in a news release. "Although closing your eyes to remember seems to work whether or not rapport has been built beforehand, our results show that building rapport makes witnesses more at ease with closing their eyes. That in itself is vital if we are to encourage witnesses to use this helpful technique during interviews."

The findings are published in the journal Legal and Criminological Psychology.

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