Cognitive Interview

Question 1

Four components of cognitive interview

Answer 1

Report everything, context reinstatement, reverse order and changed perspective

Question 2

How to report everything and why

Answer 2

-witness asked to recall all the details of an event even if they seem irrelevant
-according to retrieval failure irrelevant details may cue recall of other important memories

Question 3

How to do context reinstatement and why

Answer 3

-interviewees mentally reinstated the environment and personal context of the incident
-based on principle of retrieval failure/context-dependent forgetting that cues may trigger recall

Question 4

How do reverse order and why

Answer 4

-interviewer tries alternative ways through the timeline of incident so start at end and work your way backwards
-reduce possibility that recall may be influenced by schemas/expectations

Question 5

How do changed perspective and why

Answer 5

Witnesses asked to recall the event from a different point of view eg from other witnesses
-decreases influence of schema about crime and what happened so don’t fill in gaps with guesses

Question 6

Expand on limitation that cognitive interview has practical issues

Answer 6

-training police officers in cognitive interviews takes time and it is a costly process, interviews also take longer
-police officers may be reluctant to introduce the cognitive interview as they may lack the sufficient funding and time taken to train officers

Question 7

Expand on strength that cognitive interview has strong evidence to support its application and however point

Answer 7

-Kohnken found over a 50-study meta analysis is that 81% more correct information came from cognitive interview compared with standard interviews
-means it can lead to more accurate testimonies and reduce instances of false convictions
H: the same study found they led to 61% more false information being recalled. Means we should still use EWTs with caution even those obtained through cognitive interviews

Question 8

Expand on strength that support for theory is based on valid evidence

Answer 8

-theories of forgetting upon which the CI techniques are based support the principle of cues being useful for recall
-explanation for success of CI