improving accuracy of EWT (incl. cognitive interview) Flashcards
who introduced the cognitive interview
fisher & geiselman (1992)
4 main techniques used in cognitive interview
- report everything
- reinstate context
- reverse order
- change perspective
describe component 1 - report everything
- include every detail of event
–> even if irrelevant/witness not confident - may trigger important memories
describe component 2 - reinstate context
- return to original crime scene ‘in their mind’
- imagine their emotions & the environment
- related to context-dependent forgetting
describe component 3 - reverse order
- events recalled in diff. order from original sequence
- prevents people reporting their expectations of how the event must of happened
- prevents dishonesty
describe component 4 - change perspective
- recall incident from another perspective
- done to disrupt the effect of expectation & the schema on recall
describe the enhanced cognitive interview
- fisher et. al (1987)
- additional elements to CI
- eg. interview knows when to establish eye contact/relinquish it
- also incl. ideas eg. reducing EW anxiety, minimising distractions & open-ended questions
AO3 +) evidence for it’s effectiveness
-) increase in amount of inaccurate information recalled
E:
- meta-analysis by kohnken et. al (1999) combined data from 55 studies comparing CI to standard police interview
- CI gave 41% average increase in accurate info & only 4 studies from meta-analysis showed no difference
T: shows CI is an effective technique helping witnesses recall information stored in memory but not immediately accessible
HOWEVER: kohnken et. al also found an increase in amount of inaccurate info recalled
- particular issue in ECI
- produced more incorrect details than CI
- cognitive interviews may sacrifice quality of EWT
T: means police officers should treat EWT/evidence from CI/ECI’s with caution
AO3 -) not all elements of original cognitive interview are equally effective/useful
E:
- milne & bull (2002) found each of 4 techniques used alone produced more information than the standard police interview
- also found a combination of report everything/reinstate context produced better recall than any of the other elements/combinations
- confirmed police officer’s suspicions that some aspects of CI are more useful than others
T: casts some doubt on credibility of overall cognitive interview
AO3 -) police officers may be reluctant to use CI as it takes more time/training than standard police interview
E:
- more time needed to establish rapport with witness & allow them to relax
- CI also requires special training & many forces don’t have resources to provide more than few hours (kebbel & wagstaff 1997)
T: suggests the complete CI as it is exists isn’t a realistic method for police officers to use & might be better to focus on just few key elements
