Cognitive interview Flashcards
What is the cognitive interview?
A method of interviewing eyewitnesses to help them retrieve more accurate memories.
4 techniques of cognitive interview
Report everything
Reinstate the context
Reverse the order
Change perspective
Report everything
The interviewer encourages the witness to report all details about the event, even though these details may seem unimportant. = trigger the recall of larger event
Reinstate the context
Return to original crime scene in their mind and imagine the environment (external cues)
Images should act as retrieval cues
Reverse the order
Recall events backwards. Prevents witnesses from making assumptions about what happened based on knowledge of usual order
Change perspective
Recalling events from the perspective of the victim or persecutor prevents the eyewitness’ account from being affected by their own schemas
What is enhanced cognitive interview
focuses on the social dynamics of the interview.
FIsher et al
- eye contact
- rapport
- minimise distractions
- talking slowly
- open ended questions
Strengths of cognitive interview
+ elements of the CI are useful
Milne & Bull (2002) found that each element of the CI was equally valuable.
each technique individually produced more info than the standard police interview.
they also found that report everything & context reinstatement produced the best recall & are the most useful techniques.
this finding is a strength because it suggests that the CI is more useful than standard interviews as more accurate info is obtained, & eyewitness accounts would improve by just using 2 of the elements, even if the full CI isn’t used. this in turn increases the credibility of the CI
Weaknesses of the Cognitive interview
Time consuming: more longer than standard interview and need special training for it
Although it increases recall of accurate info by 81% it increases recall of incorrect info by 61%
Kohnken et al
