Cognitive Interview Flashcards
Who created the cognitive interview?
Geiselman et al
Why did he create the cognitive interview?
To enchanted accuracy of recall
What are the four main principles that can enhance recall?
Mental reinstatement of context, report everything, change of perspective and chance of narrative order
What is mental reinstatement of context?
Mentally recreate both the environmental context (place, weather) and emotional context (feelings) of the crime scene
What is report everything?
Report every detail that can be recalled, even those which may seem trivial or irrelevant
What is change of perspective?
Try to describe the incident as it would have been seen from different viewpoints, not just your own viewpoint
What is change of narrative order?
Recall the episode in different orders e.g. from end to beginning
Who created the first set of research onto the effectiveness of the cognitive interview?
Stein and Memon
What did Stein and Memon do and find?
They used a lab experiment in Brazil. Women cleaners who worked in a university were asked to watch a video of an abduction and compared to a standard police interviewing method, the cognitive interview increased the amount of correct information obtained from witnesses demonstrating its effectiveness
Who created the second piece of research that supports the effectiveness of the cognitive interview?
Fisher et al
What did Fisher et al do and find?
They used a real police setting in Miami. They trained detectives to use the enhanced cognitive interview techniques with genuine crime witnesses and found that its use significantly increased the amount of information recalled. Therefore the findings are consistent
What are three limitations of the cognitive interview?
It requires more time than available and so police prefer to use the standard interview. Experienced detectives only had a 4 hour training session which did not produce any significant increases in the amount of information from a witness. Research suggests that it should only be used with children aged 8 and upwards as younger children may be confused by some of the methods
Who created the enhance cognitive interview?
Fisher and Geiselman
What is the enhanced cognitive interview?
An amended version of the cognitive interview that seeks to build a trusting relationship between interviewer and witness and improve the quality of communication between the two
What are the four extra important features of the enhanced cognitive interview?
The witness controlling the flow of information, asking open ended questions, getting the witness to speak slowly and participants being reminded not to guess and to use they don’t know option when necessary in order to reduce false memories
