Eyewitnesses to crimes remember the details better when they close their eyes, according to a new study whose findings are applicable to those simply trying to remember what was on their shopping list.

What's more, establishing a rapport with the investigator helps the witness recall more details, says the study that involved 178 participants and was published in the journal Legal and Criminology Psychology.

Conducted at the University of Surrey in the UK, experimentation began when participants were asked to watch a film of an electrician stealing items from the property where he had been sent to work.

After the film, they were randomly assigned to recall the film in one of four circumstances, the first two of which were having established or not established a rapport with the investigator who would question them.

The next two of the possible circumstances were keeping their eyes either open or closed while responding to questions from the investigator.

Those who had closed their eyes answered the questions 23 percent more accurately than those who hadn't, according to the study.

When they'd established a rapport with the investigators who questioned them, closing the eyes made an even bigger difference for the "witnesses" to the TV film crime.

In a later experiment, witnesses were interrogated about what they had heard in addition to what they had seen after watching a clip from TV show Crimewatch in which a real-life burglary was staged.

Witnesses who closed their eyes remembered both audio and visual details whether or not they had established a rapport with their investigator.

Those who had not gotten to know their interrogator said it made them uncomfortable to close their eyes during questioning.

AFP-Relaxnews