The cognitive interview

• The cognitive interview:

  • Developed by Geiselman (1984) to increase the accuracy of eyewitness testimony
• The cognitive interview:

  1. Mentally recreate the original context, physical & psychological - overcome retrieval failure
  2. Report everything - may cue recall
  3. Change the order of events - prevents the influence of schemas
  4. Change the perspective - disrupts schemas
• The cognitive interview AO3:

  • ✅ Research into effectiveness - meta-analysis found an increase in amount of correct information generated - increases accessibility of stored information
  • ❌ Quantity over quality - increase in incorrect information as well as correct
  • ❌ Problems in practice - takes a long time, requires special training
  • ✅ Individual differences - more useful interviewing older people as overcomes stereotypes about their memory
• The cognitive interview AO3:

  • ✅ Research into effectiveness
  • ❌ Quantity over quality
  • ❌ Problems in practice
  • ✅ Individual differences