3. Memon and Higham (1999) Flashcards
Aim
To make comments on the theoretical and methodological issues to be considered in Cl research and the practical considerations relating to the use of the Cl in the field.
Method
This is an article which critiques (reviews) the Cognitive Interview (CI). Discussion is organised around four themes:
- The effectiveness of various components of the CI
- The relationship between the CI and other interviewing methods such as the Guided Memory Interview, the Standard Interview and the
Structured Interview
- Different measures of memory performance
- The effect of training quality on interviewer performance.
Comments are made on some of the theoretical and methodological issues to be considered in CI research and the practical considerations relating to the use of the CI in the field.
Results
Conclusions
- Research into the effectiveness of the CI remains inconclusive.
- There is a need for further research investigating the particular effects the CI has on memory.
- Further research is needed on how the various elements of the CI work.
- It is not yet clear how the CI relates to other interviewing procedures and what would make a suitable control group.
- Interviewers differ in their ability and motivation to conduct a good interview.
- If research is limited to comparisons between interviews with established protocols, such as the CI and SI, the problem of interviewer variability is not alleviated.
Effectiveness of the cognitive interview (CI)
Memon and Higham reviewed each of the four components of the Cl individually.
1. Context Reinstatement
What is it?
What did they say about it?
The interviewer can help witnesses recreate context that existed at the crime scene by asking them to form an image of the original scene such as the location of objects in a room or any sounds, smells and physical conditions. This is based on the concept of context-dependent memory, also called cue dependent memory.
Memon and Higham suggest a cue is effective to the extent that it was specifically encoded with the to-be-remembered information. Thus, increasing the overlap between test context (ie. the interview) and the context of acquisition (ie. the crime scene).
Effectiveness of the cognitive interview (CI)
Memon and Higham reviewed each of the four components of the Cl individually.
- Report everything (RE)
What is it?
What did they say about it?
In step 2 witnesses are encouraged to report all detail that they can remember regardless of how trivial it may appear.
This aids the recall of additional information as witnesses avoid screening out anything they consider irrelevant or for which they have only partial recall. This information may be valuable
combining details from different witnesses to the same crime.
Effectiveness of the cognitive interview (CI)
Memon and Higham reviewed each of the four components of the Cl individually.
- Change perspective (CP)
What is it?
What did they say about it?
This encourages witnesses to view the scene as others present may have seen it, for example as other witnesses, the victim or the perpetrator may have seen the incident.
The aim is to use a number of pathways to increase the retrieval of detail from the witness about the crime. However, there have been concerns from police officers that this could lead to fabricated details and confuse the witness.
Effectiveness of the cognitive interview (CI)
Memon and Higham reviewed each of the four components of the Cl individually.
- Change order (CO)
What is it?
What did they say about it?
This encourages witnesses to recall events in different orders, for example starting halfway through a sequence of events and then working backwards or from the most memorable event.
This technique can result in the recall of additional details and is more effective to recall in forward order once, followed by reverse order, than to make two attempts to recall from the beginning
Isolating the effective components of the CI One way to test the effectiveness of the Cl is to experimentally isolate and test the effectiveness of each of the components.
Memon and Higham report research that used …
Each participant was questioned using only one of the following elements: …
As a control, a fourth group was merely instructed to ‘___ _______’.
Memon and Higham report that… This shows that there is no single component of the CI that is more effective than another or even superior to further recall attempts
Memon et al. (1996) replicated these results using… The researchers recognised that…
However, research using…
The enhanced version of the CI (named the ECI) combines the four components of the Cl with strategies to improve the communication between the interviewer and witness, thereby improving the flow of information in the interview. The suggestion is that the effectiveness of the ECI is due to …
- Memon and Higham report research that used five- to eight-year- old children as witnesses.
- Each participant was questioned using only one of the following elements: context reinstatement (CR), change perspective (CP) or change order (CO).
- As a control, a fourth group was merely instructed to ‘try harder’.
- Memon and Higham report that there were no significant differences in recall performance between each of the components CR, CP, CO and control groups. This shows that there is no single component of the CI that is more effective than another or even superior to further recall attempts
- Memon et al. (1996) replicated these results using children aged five to nine years. The researchers recognised that younger children had difficulty in using the cognitive techniques and this may have reduced effectiveness.
- However, research using adults indicates that CR provides the most recalled information and is the single most effective component of the CI
- The enhanced version of the CI (named the ECI) combines the four components of the Cl with strategies to improve the communication between the interviewer and witness, thereby improving the flow of information in the interview. The suggestion is that the effectiveness of the ECI is due to improved communication and retrieval of information
Comparing the CI with other interviews
In order to evaluate the efficacy of the Cl, it is necessary to have alterative techniques as a comparison. This section considers the usefulness of each technique as a control for evaluating the CI
What 3 other interviews did they compare it with, what are they and what did they find?
Standard interview
The term ‘standard interview’ refers to the technique typically used by the police. It is something of a misnomer given that such interviews are far from standardised. There are also a number of undesirable characteristics associated with the standard interview, such as rapid-fire questions and frequent interruptions.
Memon and Higham recommend against using the standard interview as a comparison group to evaluate the efficacy of the CI because it is so different from the Cl and therefore does not provide an appropriate experimental control.
Guided memory interview (GMI)
The GMI draws upon principles of contextual reinstatement as does the CI and by encouraging the witness to recall different contexts, it guides their memory. The GMI may be a reasonable comparison group for determining whether Cl effects can be attributed to context reinstatement alone or whether a combination of cognitive techniques are responsible for the effects.
Memon and Higham suggest a more appropriate control would be a procedure that achieves good rapport with the witness without the use of any special memory techniques.
Structured interview (SI)
Sl interviewers build rapport with the witness to provide an opportunity for narrative descriptions of a crime and to provide time for interviewees to respond. Additionally, the Sl is non-interruptive, confidence-building and fosters the use of good questioning, for example the use of open questions.
Many of these positive aspects of the SI are also present in the enhanced CI. However, the Si and Cl are different in that the cognitive techniques, for example context reinstatement, are only used with the CI.
Therefore, the amount of information received from a witness in a Cl is greater than that by interviewers trained in the SI, even though both procedures produce comparable accuracy rates.
Memon and Higham believe that with appropriate training, both Cl and SI interviewers can be effective. However, because the sole difference between the SI and CI is the use of the cognitive techniques in the CI, the SI provides a reasonably good control for determining the role of Cl techniques
Measures of memory
Measures of performance are usually the percentage of interview statements that are correct or the absolute number of correct and incorrect statements. However, one problem with this is that such measurements… Without knowledge of unreported information it is not possible to establish total accuracy.
The CI suggests that witnesses should _________ _____________. However, Memon and Higham note that the more information that is reported by witnesses… Therefore, they suggest there is a problem of predicting how effective the Cl will be.
For example, the CI may affect an interviewee’s perception of how much information they should give in response to questions. Information they provide when told to report everything may not be given under the conditions of a standard interview where they must tell the truth and be convinced their evidence is completely correct.
However, importantly there is no loss of accuracy in information reported in the CI. This may be due to improved recall and an assessment of how accurate the information is, called memory monitoring.
Measures of memory
Measures of performance are usually the percentage of interview statements that are correct or the absolute number of correct and incorrect statements. However, one problem with this is that such measurements ignore the amount and the nature of unreported information. Without knowledge of unreported information it is not possible to establish total accuracy.
The CI suggests that witnesses should report everything. However, Memon and Higham note that the more information that is reported by witnesses the less accurate it becomes. Therefore, they suggest there is a problem of predicting how effective the Cl will be.
For example, the CI may affect an interviewee’s perception of how much information they should give in response to questions. Information they provide when told to report everything may not be given under the conditions of a standard interview where they must tell the truth and be convinced their evidence is completely correct.
However, importantly there is no loss of accuracy in information reported in the CI. This may be due to improved recall and an assessment of how accurate the information is, called memory monitoring.
