Cognitive interview

• What is it ?


  more effective and accurate

  • a method of ingerviewing witnesses to help them improve the retrieval of accurate memories by letting them talk freely
• What are the 4 stages ?

  1. Report everything
  2. reinstate the context
  3. reverse the order
  4. change perspective
• what is report everything ?

  • every detail given regardless of how irrelevant or not bc of identity about
  • can trigger more important memories
• What is reinstate the context ?

  • return to the original crime scene in mind
  • imagine sights, smells l, weather, hear, emotions
  • leads to context and state dependent cues
• What is reverse the order ?

  • recall events not in chronological ordeprevents schemas from interfering
• What is change the perspective?

  • ask witness to recall from other perspectives
  • disrupts expectations/ schemas on recall
• What is the advanced cognitive interview ?

  • developed additional elements to focus’s on the social dynamic of the interaction
• What does the advanced interview involve ?

  • know when to have eye contact

  - reduce eye witness anxiety

  - speak slowly

  - ask open ended questions
• What was the standard interview ?

  • police ask questions + witness answers them
  • questions don’t flow in Same order as the events in the witness head
  • don’t allow them to talk freely
• What are negatives of standard interview ?

  • leading questions
  • might miss out on import info as not directly asked or disrupted
  • lose concentration
  • give short answers (lack detail )
• Evaluation of cognitive interview ?

  1. practical application (court)
  2. meta analysis
  3. time consuming
• meta analysis

  • 50 studies on cognitive interview provided more correct info than standard
• Time consuming ?

  • specialist training
  • can’t alwyas use
  • pp must be comfortable talking