cognitive interview -memory

• Cognitive interview techniques


  1. Report everything

  2. Reinstate the context

  3. Change the perspective

  4. Reverse the order
• Report everything


  Even seemingly insignificant info can provide cues for more significant events (e.g. in a victim had a bag)
• Report everything


  • Helps prevent reproduction as confabulation
• Reinstate the context


  Recalling weather, location and surroundings prevents context-dependent forgetting
• Change the perspective


  Prevents eyewitness' accounts being affected by their own preconceptions
• Reverse the order


  Reduces witness's ability to lie, as it is simply harder to recall non-chronological events
• Research on 53 studies found an average of 34% more recall using the basic cognitive interview techniques compared to standard interviewing
• Cognitive interview techniques


  Lead to higher amounts of correct recall, but also higher amounts of incorrect recall
• Some police officers were concerned about the amount of time it took to complete the cognitive interview, and were reluctant to use it
• Research has found that using only four of the cognitive interview techniques may not be better than a standard interview, but combining 2+ of the techniques seems to lead to more accurate recall
• The cognitive interview is an investigative technique that aims to improve the accuracy of eyewitness testimony by reducing memory distortions.