Improving accuracy of EWT

Question 1

What are the components of the cognitive interview (CI)?

Answer 1

Change of narrative order
Change of perspective
Mental reinstatement of context - recall the environmental & emotional context of the event
Report everything

Question 2

Who was the CI developed by?

Answer 2

Fisher & Geiselman

Question 3

What is the CI?

Answer 3

A procedure for police questioning of witnesses that promotes accurate, detailed recall of events

Question 4

What other theory does the CI involve?

Answer 4

Tulving & Thomson’s Encoding Specificity theory - suggesting memory races are made up of several features and to enhance recall as many retrieval cues as possible should be used.

Question 5

What is context reinstatement?

Answer 5

Emotional elements of an event witnessed, which work via state-dependent effects and sequencing element eg what you’re doing at the time.

Question 6

What is Geiselman et al’s research on the CI?

Answer 6

Found that CI produced more accurate, detailed memories than the SPI technique & interviews conducted under hypnosis.

Question 7

What is SPI?

Answer 7

Standard police interview

Question 8

What is Geiselman & Fisher’s research on CI?

Answer 8

Found that the CI works best when used within a short time following a crime rather than a long time afterwards.

Question 9

What is the enhanced cognitive interview (ECI)?

Answer 9

Seeks to build a trusting relationship between interviewer & witness & improve the quality of communication between the two.

Question 10

Who made the ECI?

Answer 10

Geilselman & Fisher

Question 11

What are the features of the ECI?

Answer 11

Interviewer not distracting the witness with unnecessary interruptions
Witness controlling the flow of info
Asking open-ended Qs
Getting the witness to speak slowly

Question 12

What are the stages of the ECI?

Answer 12

Witness control flow of info by asking them open ended Qs
Context reinstatement
Witness free recall of events
Asks witness to concentrate on mental images of the memory & uses these to guide recall

Question 13

What is the Modified cognitive interview (MCI)?

Answer 13

Version of CI suitable for use with the children, building trust between the interviewer and witness, gives control to the witness & removes the change perspective component as children too young to effectively empathise with others.

Question 14

Who proposed the MCI?

Answer 14

Holliday

Question 15

What is Verkampt & Ginet’s research on MCI?

Answer 15

Interviewed 229 children after a painting session with either a CI, SPI or MCI, finding tear the CI & MCI’S were superior to the SPI in producing accurate detail

Question 16

Give evaluations of CI

Answer 16

CI’s success has led to calls for it to be widely used by other organisations & in situations where accuracy of memory recall is important
ECI is more prone to producing confabulations, where incorrect items are recalled.
CI’s aren’t generally effective as a form of memory-enhancement in the recognising suspects in identity parades & photos

Question 17

What is the procedure for the CI, meta analysis reviewer by Memom, Christian & Fraser?

Answer 17

57 studies.
64% of the studies involved young adult witnesses, 28% involved children, 8% elderly & 6% learning disabled people.
32% of the studies used CI, 23% ECI & 45% versions of the MCI

Question 18

What are the findings for the CI, meta analysis reviewer by Memom, Christian & Fraser?

Answer 18

CI was seen to produce more accurate detail than non-CI comparison techniques & the size of this effect was greater.
The MCI produced significantly more inaccurate details than the CI & ECI but there was no significant differences between all types in terms of the amount of accurate detail produced.

Question 19

What are the conclusions for the CI, meta analysis reviewer by Memom, Christian & Fraser?

Answer 19

CIs are producing more accurate and detailed info than before but also more inaccurate detail with no differences in the amount of confabulated memories.
CI & ECI are superior in terms of the lesser amount of inaccurate detail produced compared to the MCI.