cognitive interview

Question 1

cognitive interview

Answer 1

method of interviewing eyewitnesses to help them to retrieve more accurate memories.

Question 2

Fisher and Geiselman

Answer 2

• eyewitness testimony could improve if the police used better techniques when interviewing
• techniques should be based on psychological insights into how memory works

Question 3

4 techniques used

Answer 3

• report everything
• reinstate the context
• reverse the order
• change perspective

Question 4

reinstate the context

Answer 4

witness should return in their mind

Question 5

reverse the order

Answer 5

• prevent people reporting their expectations of how the event musty have happened rather than reporting the actual events
• prevents dishonesty

Question 6

change perspective

Answer 6

• disrupt the effect of expectations and effect of schema on recall

Question 7

enhanced cognitive interview

Answer 7

• Fisher developed addition elements of cognitive interview to focus on the social dynamics of the interaction
• includes reducing eyewitness anxiety, minimizing distractions, getting the witness to speak slowly and asking open- ended questions

Question 8

cognitive interview evaluation

Answer 8

• support for the effectiveness of the CI
• some elements may be more useful
• the CI is time-consuming

Question 9

support for the effectiveness of the CI

Answer 9

• Meta – analysis by Kohnken (1999) combined data from 55 studies comparing the CI with the standard police interview
• CI average 41% increase in accurate information compared with the standard interview
• Shows CI is an effective technique in helping witnesses recall information that is stored in the memory but not immediately accessible

Question 10

some elements may be more useful

Answer 10

• Not all of its elements are equally effective or useful
• Milne and Bull (2002) each of the four techniques used alone produced more information than the standard police interview
• Found that suing a combination of ‘report everything’ and ‘reinstate the context’ produced better recall than any of the other elements ot combination of them
• Confirmed that some aspects of CI are more useful than others

Question 11

the CI is time-consuming

Answer 11

• Police officers may be reluctant to use CI, it takes more time and training than the standard interview
• Suggests that the complete CI as it exists is not realistic method for officers to use and it might be better to focus on just a few elements