Want to be understood? Make eye contact

IF YOU really want someone to remember what you say, look them in the eye.

A direct gaze is the best way to get a message across because it makes the recipient more aware of themselves.

By focusing their attention ‘inwards’ they will empathise with the new information – improving memory, the researchers from France and Finland said. We also act in a kinder and more honest way because we feel we are being evaluated. And the effect is so strong that it even works when looking at a picture of a pair of eyes.

Paris professor Laurence Conty told the journal Consciousness and Cognition: ‘Direct gaze has the power to enhance the experience that the information . . . is strongly related to one’s own person.’