Close Your Eyes

Description

Just close your eyes. Go back to when the the event happened, or as soon before it happened as you can remember. Then play the scene forward, seeing what you can see, hearing what you can hear.

If needed, you can go back and play the 'tape' again. Do not rewind it backwards, just jump to the restart position.

Along the way you can slow things down and stop to examine particular elements. You can also skip forward quickly as needed.

Example

I witness an accident. After calling the police, I close my eyes and see it all happening again. When the police take a statement, I find it easier to close my eyes again to get a fuller detail.

A person has lost their phone. They close their eyes and remember last time they used it, which was in town. They play the tape forward and notice that as they get into their car they put in on the console. They look in the car and find it has fallen on the floor.

Discussion

When you try to remember something visual, your mind has to process two images: the recalled image and what your eyes currently see. If you close your eyes, you remove the latter, reducing interference and mental effort.

Vredeveldt and Penrod (2012) exposed subjects to a public argument, then got them to recall what they saw. Those who were asked to close their eyes remembered recalled 37.6 per cent more useful visual information.

Quick links

Close Your Eyes

Usage

Description

Example

Discussion

See also

Site Menu

You can buy books here

Quick links

Disciplines

Techniques

Principles

Explanations

Theories

And

Site Menu

Quick links

Disciplines

Techniques

Principles

Explanations

Theories

And