cognitive interview

• a method of interviewing eyewitnesses to help them retrieve more accurate memories
• it uses 4 main techniques, all based on well-established psychological knowledge of human memory
• fisher and geiselman (1992). EWT could be improved if the police used better techniques when interviewing witnesses.
• the techniques - report everything, reinstate the context, reverse the order, and change perspective
• witnesses are encouraged to report every single detail of the event, even if it seems irrelevant or the witness doesn’t feel confident about it
• details eyewitnesses don’t think are important may trigger further memories and so they are encouraged to report everything
• the interviewer encourages the witness to mentally recreate the image of the incident, including details of the environment, such as weather conditions, and the individual’s emotional state including their feelings at the time of the incident
• the witness is asked to recall the incident in a different chronological order to the original sequence, for example, from the final point backwards. this is more difficult to do and prevents people reporting their expectations of hoe the event must have happened rather than the actual events
• witness should recall the incident from other people’s perspectives. the witness is asked to try and mentally recreate the situation from different points of view, e.g. describing what another witness present at the scene would have seen or describe from the view of the perpetrator
• this is done to disrupt the effect of expectations and schema on recall. schema can generate expectations of what may have happened rather than what really happened
• the enhanced cognitive interview was established by fisher et al (1987) - additional elements added
• focus on social dynamics of the interaction between witness and interviewer
• interviewer needs to know when to establish eye contact
• the interviewer should not distract the witness with unnecessary interruptions
• the witness controls the flow of information
• interviewer asks open ended questions
• remind witness not to guess and use the don’t know option when necessary
• try to make the witness feel comfortable/ relaxed, reduce anxiety
• AO3(time consuming):

  • police may not use the CI because it is time consuming
  • takes much more time than the standard police interview
  • more time is needed to stabilise rapport with the witness
  • the CI requires special training too and many forces have not provided more than a couple of hours training
  • it is unlikely therefore that the proper version of the CI is actually used, which may explain why the police have not been that impressed by it.
• AO3(research support):

  • milne and bull (2002) found that all the elements were valuable. Each element produced more information than the standard police interview
  • but they argue that a combination of report everything and reinstate the context produces best recall compared to any of the other conditions
  • this confirms police officers’ suspicions that some aspects if the CI are more useful than others
  • strength - suggests that at least two elements should be used to improve police interviewing
  • increases credibility of the CI amongst those who use it