Cognitive Interview

• who first developed the cognitive interview?

  Geiselman et al
• what is the aim of the cognitive interview?

  • improve EFFECTIVENESS of interviewers when questioning witnesses
  • APPLY THE RESULTS OF PSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH which showed that memory isn't like a video camera but an ACTIVE PROCESS
• Psychologists have developed this technique and now train police forces
• what is the cognitive interveiw also based on:?

  Tulving's ''encoding specificity principle''
• what is the order of techniques in the cognitive interview?

  1. contextual/cognitive reinstatement
  2. report everything
  3. recall from a changed perspective
  4. change the narrative order
• What is contextual/cognitive reinstatement?

  Recall the scene, weather, what you were thinking and feeling/ this attempts to get the witnesses cognitively back to the situation
• why is the contextual/cognitive reinstatement included?

  recalling how you felt and the context enhance recall - these details act as CUES for recall
• what is report everything?

  report every detail you can EVEN IF THEY SEEM IRRELEVANT OR TRIVIAL
• why is report everything included?

  witnesses might not realise that some details are important and details might help them recall significant information
• what is recall from a changed perspective?

  Describe the event as it would have been seen from different viewpoints
• why is recall from a changed perspective included?

  encourages many retrieval paths
• what is changing the narrative order?

  Describe the event from different events and typically in reverse order
• why is changing the narrative order included?

  When events are recalled in forward order, witnesses reconstruct based on their schemas. if the order is changed it reduces CONFABULATION
• What do the cognitive interview and standard interview BOTH have in common?


  free recall
• what did fisher et all add to the enhanced cognitive interview?


  • no distractions
  • No interruptions
  • Active listening
  • Primarily open questions / open-ended questions
• What research did Milne and Bull do that supports the cognitive interview?


  found the 'report everything' and 'context reinstatement' components of the cognitive interview to be the key techniques in gaining accurate, detailed recall, which suggests modified versions of the cognitive interview should concentrate on these features
• give some research to contradict the cognitive interview?

  Memon et al- report that officers think the 'change of perspective' component misleads witnesses into speculating about the event witness and therefore it is less frequently used
• what can recalling the context in which the event happened include?

  environmental details (weather)

  emotional factors (How they felt at the time)
• another feature?


  Encourage to relax