Cognitive interview

• What are the four stages of the Cognitive interview (IN ORDER)

  1. Report everything
  2. Reinstate context
  3. Change perspective
  4. Reverse Order
• What are the main features of the ,,Report everything" stage in CI?

  Witnesses encouraged to talk about every detail even if insignificant. trivial information might trigger important memories
• What are the key elements of the ,,reinstate the context" stage of the CI?

  Witnesses should return to the crime scene psychologically and imagine environment

  • This can be done by asking about weather, environment etc
  • Related to context-dependent forgetting
• What are the key elements of the ,,change perspective" stage of the CI?

  Witnesses should try recalling the event from a different persons perspective

  • This could be from the perpetrators point of view or another witness
• What are the key elements of the ,,reverse the order" stage of the CI?

  Events recalled in different chronological order than the original sequence

  • Done to prevent influence of schema (expectation of how event happened) and to prevent dishonesty
• Give one strength and one limitation of the CI

  STRENGTH:

  • Provides more correct information than standards interview (81% increase in correct info)

  LIMITATION:

  • Time consuming and requires specialist training