improving EWT: cognitive interview

• standard interview

  • fisher et al studied real life interviews by detective officers in florida over 4 months
  • witnesses were frequently bombarded with brief, direct, close ended questions aimed to elicit facts
  • sequencing of questions seemed to be out of sync with witnesses mental representation of the event
  • witnesses were often interrupted and not allowed to talk freely about their experiences
• cognitive interview is used by police to enhance retrieval of info from witnesses memory
• context reinstatement:

  • mentally reinstate context of the target event
  • recall the scene, weather, thoughts and feelings at the time, previous events
  • the context and how you felt act as cues to recall
• report everything:

  • report every detail you can recall even if it seems unimportant
  • some details are important and might help trigger the memory of something that is important
• recall from changed perspective:

  • try to describe the episode as it would have been seen from different view points
  • e.g birds eye view, from other side of the room/street
• recall in reverse order

  • report the episode in several different orders moving backwards or forwards in time
  • if the order is changed, they are more accurate i.e they remember only what happened, not what they expected to happen
• fisher and geiselman designed the cognitive interview to try and improve eyewitness testimony
• C.R.O.P

  C - context reinstatement

  R - reporting all details

  O - order change

  P - perspective change
• • fisher and geiselman asked 89 students to watch a crime video and were interviewed 2 days later
  • half underwent cognitive interview, half standard police interview
  • Cognitive interview led to significant increase in correctly recalled items compared to standard interview but incorrectly recalled items remained consistent across both interview types.
  • Cognitive interview enhances accurate recall but doesn't eliminate errors.
• Mello and Fisher

  When CI and normal interview techniques were tested on both older adults’ (72 years) and younger adults’ (22 years) memory, CI was better for both, but was more significantly an advantage for the elderly. 
• P - The cognitive interview (CI) is quick to train and easy to use, making it practical for law enforcement.

  E - By employing open-ended questions and creating a supportive environment, the CI enhances recall accuracy while reducing bias.

  E - Research shows the CI increases correct information recall and encourages honest accounts, crucial in preventing miscarriages of justice.

  L - the CI's simplicity and effectiveness make it a valuable tool for improving investigative outcomes and upholding the integrity of the legal system.
• P - A meta-analysis of 55 studies demonstrates the cognitive interview's (CI) effectiveness compared to standard police interviews.

  E - The CI shows a significant 41% increase in accurate information recall, highlighting its ability to elicit more reliable details from witnesses.

  E - Only 4 out of the 55 studies found no difference between the CI and standard interviews, reinforcing the CI's consistent advantage.

  L - These findings confirm the CI's efficacy in accessing stored but initially inaccessible memories, enhancing witness testimonies in investigations.
• P - The original Cognitive Interview (CI) exhibits a limitation in the effectiveness of its techniques

  E - Milne and Bull found that while each CI technique used alone yielded more information than standard police interviews, combining "report everything" and "reinstate the context" produced better recall.

  E - This discovery raised doubts about the CI's overall credibility, as it suggested that certain elements were more useful than others.

  L - The variability in CI technique effectiveness potentially compromises its reliability despite offering advantages over standard police interviews.