If you can’t remember your PIN number, try closing your eyes.

如果你忘记了你的密码，试一下闭上你的眼睛。

Experiments show that recall is boosted when we shut out the outside world.

实验结果表明，当我们闭上眼睛不关注外面世界的时候，我们的记忆力会被提高。

It is thought that blocking out distractions¹ frees up the necessary brainpower to remember things. Psychologists from the University of Surrey put the theory to test by showing almost 200 men and women short films and asking them a series of questions about what they had seen.

阻断干扰被认为可以释放必要的脑力去记忆事情。来自塞瑞大学的心理学家为证明这个理论进行了如下实验：通过给大约200名男性和女性展示一些短片并问他们一系列关于他们看到了什么的问题。

The first film clip was silent and showed an electrician stealing as he carried out jobs in a house.

第一个短片是无声的，可以看到一名电工在一个住宅内工作时正在偷窃。

The volunteers then answered a series of questions about what they had seen – and half of them did this with their eyes closed. Those whose eyes were open got just 48 per cent of the answers right on average – a score much lower than the 71 per cent achieved by those who had shut their eyes.

然后参加实验的志愿者回答了一系列关于他们看到什么的问题——其中有一半人是闭着眼睛回忆的。那些睁开眼睛去回忆的志愿者只有48%的回答正确率，与那些闭着眼睛回忆的志愿者的71%的回答正确率相比，实在低了许多。

Having built up a rapport² with the questioner boosted scores further.

和被提问者建立了融洽的关系后，回答正确分数将会进一步提高。

The second film clip came from the BBC series Crimewatch and included sound as well as images.

而第二个短片则来自英国广播公司系列犯罪影片，既由声音也有图像，同样证实了结论。

Closing eyes boosted recall of facts heard and seen.

闭上眼睛的确加强了对所听到和所看到的事实的记忆。

It had been argued that the technique improves memory by allowing people to build a detailed³ mental image of the thing they are trying to recall.

一直在争论，这项技术通过让人们对他们所记忆的东西建立一个详细的幻想的来改善记忆。

The finding that the trick also made it easier to remember auditory information shows this is not the only explanation.

对这个诀窍也更容易让人记住听觉信息的发现显示这并不是唯一的解释。

Researcher Robert Nash said it is likely that those who shut their eyes also benefit from blocking out distractions.

研究员罗伯特·纳什说可能这是因为那些闭上眼睛的人受益于屏蔽干扰。警察一直鼓励证人作证时闭上眼睛试图记住犯罪的细节。

He said that police forces have long been aware of the benefits of asking eyewitnesses⁴ to shut their eyes during interviews.

他说，警察早就意识到这个的诀窍，并在面谈时要求目击者闭上他们的眼睛。

His study, published in the journal Legal and Criminological Psychology⁵, suggests that police will glean⁶ even more information if they build up a rapport with the interviewee.

他的研究发表在《法律与犯罪学的心理学》 ，建议如果警方与受访者建立融洽的关系，将收集更多的信息。

Dr Nash believes that a simple closing of the eyes will also be of benefit in everyday situations, such as recalling pin numbers and remembering shopping lists.

纳什博士认为，闭上眼睛这一简单的行为在日常生活中也将受益,如回忆密码和记住购物清单。

And while his experiment involved quizzing people shortly after they’d watched a film, other studies suggest that closing eyes can boost recall of events that date back several years.

虽然他的实验只涉及了志愿者看了短片不久后就向他们提问，但其他的研究表明，闭上眼睛可以增强对几年前的事情的回忆。