Memon and higham

• Aim

  To make comments on the theoretical and methodological issues to be considered in Cl research and practical

  considerations of its use in the field.
• Memon & Higham (Effectiveness of components)

  • With 5-8y/o no difference was found between Cl components and control
  • CR found to be most effective with adults
  • Suggests kids struggled to use Cl techniques
• Memon & Higham (Relationship w/ other methods)

  • Standard interview - Too different (Bad)
  • Guided-memory - Too similar
  • Good to see if CR is solely responsible.
  • Structured interview - Uses active listening techniques of eCl but no cognitive
• Memon & Higham (Interviewer variables & training)

  • Those w/ interview potential should be pushed towards investigative roles. (& v.v)
  • Assumes poor interviewers won't benefit from training.
• Memon & Higham (Measures of memory)

  • Normally - no. correct statements
  • Recall everything - increased detail, decreased accuracy
  • Not identified with standard techniques
• Conclusions

  Further research needed

  Not clear what a suitable control is
• CI

  cognitive interview (CI) is effective in retrieving information. Interviewers can use evidence such as cues from the crime scene to help witnesses recall information during the interview.

  Similarly, changing the order of events can result in the recall of additional details from witnesses. Memon and Higham suggest it is more effective to recall in forward order once, followed by reverse order, than to make two attempts to recall from the beginning.

  However, context reinstatement is not as effective as the use of the whole Cl protocol to collect evidence.
• Validity

  high as they used a blind procedure the witness interviews were analysed by a team who were not aware if it was a trained CI detective or not. - therefore bias in judgement was eliminated.
• Ecological validity

  as conducted in the field - mundane realism, interviews with real witnesses. And real detectives, 16 detectives from Dade county, Florida

  However, reduced control of extraneous variables such as type of crime witnesses experience or how soon after they were interviewed.
• Reliability

  Standardised approach of the CI to collecting evidence - witness testimonies collected by Fisher et al, are reliable - all followed the CI protocol (CI trained detectives)

  In contrast the standard interview used by the police adopts a less standardised approach to interviewing. More interruptions by the interviewer and so likely to be more inconsistent.
• Ethnocentrism

  development of the CI technique comes from a western perspective - an assumption that you should 'tell the truth' in police interviews - this may not be universal.

  There may be cultural differences in truth telling between western and non-western cultures (remember core study Lee et al!!)
• Sampling bias

  samples in Memon and Higham = children of primary school age. 5 - 9 years olds. It was reported that children had difficulty with the cognitive techniques, therefore validity can be questioned. Was replicated partially with adults so can be generalise that the full CI technique is more effective than individual components and out of the individual components the Context Reinstatment is the most effective technique.
• Free will/determinism

  could be argued that the retrieval of information from witnesses and suspects is determined by others. Using techniques such as the cognitive interview (CI) results in a much higher level of information being collected. For example, Fisher et al.

  (1989) found that 63% more information was obtained by detectives trained in using the Cl than those who were untrained. This would suggest that information recalled by a witness is determined by an effective
• Usefulness

  The Memon and Higham review is also useful as it highlights that police interviewers should be given adequate training in Cl techniques for them to be most effective. For example, they recommend a two-day training programme.

  However, the effectiveness of training programmes depends on their quality