cognitive interviews

• fisher & geiselman 1992?

  • argued that ewt could be improved if police used better techniques when interviewing witnesses
  • such as cognitive interviews
• 2 features to mention how cognitive interviews work?

  • schema & retrieval failure are very important
• what is crop?

  c - context

  r - report every detail

  o - order

  p - perspective

  link these to retrieval failure or schemas
• explain context reinstatement?

  • witnesses encouraged to recall details of scene including weather that day, their mood & thoughts at time, who was there, what they were wearing
  • each detail about context is used as retrieval cue
• explain report everything?

  • witnesses encouraged to report everything that they remember regardless of whether they think its relevant or not
  • one memory acts as a retrieval cue to the next thus aiding recall
• explain change order of recall?

  • witnesses are asked to recall event from end/middle
  • if order is varied it will reduce amount a person uses prior knowlegde, expectations, schemas to recall what happened
• explain change in perspective?

  • witnesses are asked to recall what other people may have seen
  • if another persons viewpoint is asked for will reduce amount that person uses prior knowledge, expectations, schemas to recall events
• what is enhanced cognitive interview?

  • fisher et al 1987 developed some additional elements of cognitive interview to focus on social dynamics of situation
  • used alongside other techniques!
• name 5 features of enhanced ci?

  1. interviewer establishes eye contact
  2. reducing anxiety
  3. minimising distractions
  4. ask witness to speak slowly
  5. ask open questions
• 3 X of cognitive interviews?

  1. only 2/4 elements of ci are very useful - milne & bull 2002
  2. time consuming
  3. evidence that enhanced ci increases correct & incorrect amount of recall from kohnken et al 1999
• * evidence to support effectiveness of enhanced ci?

  • a meta analysis of 50 studies by kohnken et al 1999 showed that e.c.i provided more correct info than standard interview
  • * valid
  • shows that further research into these additional techniques has further improved accuracy of recall
  • means it can be practically applied & used in police setting
• X only 2/4 elements of ci are useful?

  • milne & bull 2002 found that each technique was equally valuable but using combo of report everything & contect reinstatement produced much better recall than any other conditions
  • ? valid
  • demonstrates that all 4 components are not needed
  • a more focused & simplistic technique can be used in real life setting to achieve same outcomes
• X time consuming?

  • compared to standard police interview more time is needed to build a rapport with witness & allow them to relax
  • ci also requires specialist training & many forces have not been able to provide more than a few due to lack of time & funding
  • ? valid
  • may not be a practical solution to improving accuracy of ewt
  • means more efficient & cost effective methods may need to be developed to be used in real life
• X evidence that e.c.i increases correct & incorrect amount of recall?

  • kohnken et all found that whilst there was 81% increase of correct info there was also 61% increase of incorrect info when e.c.i was used compared to standard interview
  • ? valid
  • shows that whilst it has capability to improve ewt
  • may also lead to inaccurate statements being given
  • thus leading to wrongful convictions having economic implications