2.9 Improving the accuracy of eyewitness testimony: The cognitive interview Flashcards
What is the cognitive interview?
- A police technique for interviewing witnesses to a crime that encourages them to recreate the original context of the crime to increase accessibility of stored information.
Summarise the cognitive interview
- Mental reinstatement of original context (psychological and physical - cued recall)
- report everything - even seemingly insignificant information (may cue recall)
- Change order - reduces effect of schemas
- Change perspective - disrupts schemas
Evaluate cognitive interview
- review of 53 studies found 34% more information using CI, however used lab studies with students.
- Study found that effectiveness may be most due to report everything and mental reinstatement
- quality of information may suffer - 81% increase in correct recall 61% more false positives
- CI is time consuming, inadequate training
- difficult comparison because police forces use different versions
- individual differences - older adults memories helped more by CI than younger adults
What is mental reinstatement of original context? why?
Mentally recreating both physical and psychological environment of the original incident - in order to make memories accessible
Can you give an example of mental reinstatement?
Something like:
What was the weather like?
What had you been doing?
How did you feel at the time?
what is report everything? why?
Interviewer encourages reporting of every single detail even things which may seem irrelevant - can cause cued recall
An example of report everything
Something like:
Please state everything you can remember even if it feels irrelevant. I am interested in absolutely everything you have to say.
What is changing the order? why?
Alternative ways through the timeline of the incident eg. reversing the order - reduces the effect of schemas
What is changing the perspective? why?
Recall the incident from multiple perspectives - to reduce the effect of schemas
