Cognitive Interview

• What does Cognitive Interview do?

  Improve the accuracy of EWT
• What are the steps in Cognitive Interview?

  • Report Everything
  • Reinstate the Context
  • Reverse the Order
  • Change Perspective
• What happens in Report Everything?

  This is when the interviewer encourage the witness to say everything that they can remember even the ones they may think are not important.

  • This is because things that may be seen as unimportant can help in remembering other details that may have been forgotten.

  EVERYTHING
• What happens in Reinstatement of Context?

  The interviewer encourages the witness to recreate the environment that the incident happened.

  • The witnesses are asked to remember their environment because they are more likely to receive both external and internal cues.

  This helps them in accessing their memories.
• What happens in Change Order?

  The witnesses are asked to tell their perspective of incident in different orders.

  • Sometimes we remember information, how well we recall it is influenced by schemas.

  When we recall in different order, pre-existing schemas cannot interfere with our memories and this allows us to correctly remember what happened instead of what might had happened.
• What happens in Change Perspective?

  The witness will tell the event of what happens from different perspectives.

  • Like letting them recall based on what happens someone else may have seen.

  Witnesses being asked to recall from other people perspective and this prevents their own viewpoint from interfering with recollection

  • Increases the accuracy of recall.
• What is Enhanced Cognitive Interview?

  Using all 5 senses will aid in recalling everything.
• What is the Recency Effect?

  Recalling events that are most recent than earlier information.
• What problems are there with schema's?

  Our own understanding of things that happen may affect us recalling events that has happened.
• What did Fisher find?

  Build rapport with the interviewee as the interview.

  • This is because the interviewee has to go through personal distraught memories and for them to put effort into doing this.
  • They need to have a form of rapport built with the person doing the interview.
• Supporting Evidence - Geiselman

  GEISELMAN et al 1985

  Standard Interview / Cognitive Interview

  Average number of correct items recalled - 29.4 / 41.2

  Average number of incorrect items recalled - 7.3 / 6.1