AO3

• Geiselman (1999) found that children under the age of six reported things slightly less accurately when they were used the cognitive interview. This could be due to them not understanding the instructions properly. They suggested that cognitive interview was only really effective children over the age of 8. This limits the effectiveness of the cognitive interview as it can only be used with older witnesses.
• The cognitive interview is an example of a technique which aims to improve memory recall by encouraging witnesses to think about their memories from different perspectives, such as changing the location or time of day. However, this approach assumes that people have accurate memories in the first place, but research suggests that eyewitnesses often make errors in their recollections. Therefore, while techniques like the cognitive interview are helpful, they do not address the underlying issue of accuracy in witness testimony.
• Kebbell and Wagstaff (1996) reported a problem with the CI in practice. Police officers suggest that this technique needs more time than is often available and they prefer to use deliberate strategies aimed to limit an eyewitness’s report to the minimum amount of information that they feel is necessary. In addition, the CI requires special training, and many forces have not been able to provide more than a few hours. For these reasons, the use of the CI has not been widespread.
•  The technique is more structured than the standard technique, and it seems appropriate for crime-related interviews to be very thorough in order to gather the detail required for a useful testimony.
• Fisher et al found supporting evidence for the cognitive interview in real-world studies when 16 police officers interviewed 47 people twice who were victims of crime themselves or witnesses.

  • 7 officers were trained to use the cognitive interview while 9 used standard interview methods and formed the control group.
  • Results found the cognitive interview gained 47% more facts overall compared to the standard interview and concluded it was beneficial for improving EWT.