Eyewitness testimony: Cognitive interview

• What is the Cognitive Interview (CI)?The CI is a method of interviewing witnesses to help them recall more accurate memories. It focuses on four main techniques: reporting everything, reinstating the context, reversing the order, and changing perspective.
• What does the 'Report Everything' technique entail? Witnesses are encouraged to recall every detail of the event, even if it seems irrelevant. This may trigger important memories.
• What does 'Reinstating the Context' involve in CI? The witness should mentally recreate the crime scene, including environmental cues and their own feelings at the time. This technique is related to context-dependent forgetting.
• How does 'Reversing the Order' help in CI?Witnesses recount the events in a different chronological order, starting from the end or middle, to disrupt any potential biases or assumptions.
• What is the purpose of 'Changing Perspective' in the CI?The witness is asked to recall the incident from the perspective of other people involved. This aims to reduce the effect of personal schemas (preconceived ideas or assumptions).
• How does the Enhanced Cognitive Interview (ECI) differ from the standard CI?The ECI includes additional elements like building rapport with the witness, minimizing distractions, and using open-ended questions to improve communication.
• What is a key disadvantage of the CI according to the evaluation?The CI is time-consuming as it requires special training for police officers and longer interview times.
• Which CI techniques are found to be most effective? Research by Milne and Bull (2002) found that the combination of 'report everything' and 'context reinstatement' produced the best recall.
• What evidence supports the effectiveness of the CI?Kohnken et al. (1999) found from a meta-analysis of 50 studies that the CI consistently produced more accurate information than standard police interviews.
• Can CI lead to inaccurate information?Kohnken et al. also noted that while CI increased correct information, it could also increase the amount of incorrect information.
• How can variations of the CI be useful? Different elements of the CI can be used flexibly depending on the context of the interview, which can make it more practical.
• Why might police officers find some CI techniques impractical?CI techniques such as 'report everything' can be overwhelming for officers if they do not have the time or resources to deal with the volume of information provided by witnesses.