cognitive interview

• cognitive interview:

  • fisher + geiselman recommended police employ techniques based on psychological insights to improve accuracy of testimonies
• cognitive interview techniques:

  • report everything
  • reinstate context
  • reverse order
  • change perspective
• report everything:

  • interviewer encourages reporting every single detail of event without editing
  • trivial details may be important + trigger other memories
• reinstate context:

  • mentally recreate physical + psychological environment of incident
  • makes memories accessible through contextual + emotional cues
• reverse order:

  • events recalled in different order from original sequence
  • prevents expectations about what happens + dishonesty
• change perspective:

  • witnesses told to recall from multiple perspectives
  • disrupts expectations + effect of our own schema
• retrieval failure in cognitive interview:

  • forgetting occurs due to absence of cues
  • report everything + reinstate context relate to context/state dependent forgetting
• schema in cognitive interview:

  • cognitive framework that helps organise + interpret information
  • allows us to take shortcuts interpreting lots of info available in environment
  • reverse order + change perspective helps to disrupt schema
• enhanced cognitive interview (fisher):

  • additional elements to focus on social dynamics:
  • give/relinquish eye contact
  • decreases distractions
  • witness speaks slowly + asked open ended questions
  • creates friendly + relaxed atmosphere, helps to establish rapport + recall more info
• EVALUATION: research support

  • kohnken et al - meta analysis 55 studies - compare effectiveness of enhanced cognitive interview with standard interview
  • enhanced interview provides more accurate info than standard - only 4 showed no difference
  • cognitive interview = effective technique that helps to recall info - greater chance of police catching + charging criminal, benefical to society
• EVALUATION: focus on quantity over quality

  • procedure is designed enhance quantity of correct recall without compromising quality
  • kohnken et al - 81% increase of correct info, 61% increase in incorrect compared to standard
  • police have to treat all info cautiously as accuracy isnt guaranteed
• EVALUATION: time consuming training + implementation

  • kebbel + wagstaff reported problem with interview in practice - police suggest techniques require more time + instead use deliberate strategies to limit report to minimum amount
  • cognitive interview requires special training, many forces havent been able to provide more than few hours of training
  • use of interview hasnt been widespread + properly implemented, many be better to focus on few key elements