Improving the accuracy of EWT

Question 1

Fisher (1987) the improvement of standard interview

Answer 1

-commonly used with police at the time.
This is what needed to be improved:
-Large number of quick direct and closed questions
-The order of questions did not match witnesses mental representation.
-Not able to talk freely and were frequently interupted.

Question 2

Cognitive interview (CI) (fisher and gieselman 1985)

Answer 2

Range of suggested techniques for improving accuracy of EWT.

Question 3

What are the 4 features of CI?

Answer 3

1. Context reinstatement- mentally returning to the scene including emotional state. (based on cue dependant forgetting.
2. Report everything- even if they seem irrelevant as it may trigger memories.
3. Recall from changed percpective- mentally recreate how the crime would be recalled from the percpective of other people in the scene. This is used to disrupt schemas.
4. Recall in reverse order- challenges expectations/schemas.

Question 4

Research supporting CI (Fisher, Gielselman and Amador 1989)

Answer 4

• field study (validity) compareing those using CI and those using SI
• CI trained detectives recieved 63% more info than detectives using SI.

Question 5

Research against CI (Kohnken et al 1999)

Answer 5

• meta anlysis 42 studies
• Whilst also finding significant increase in amount of correct info, there was also a sig increase of incorrect info.
• Meaning Ci and SI have a very similar accuracy rate.

Question 6

Further evaluations

Answer 6

-time consuming along with training for use (financial), may be used in time sensitive case.
+ cost benefit analysis ultimately reduces crime and its cost to wider society.
- not effective for younger children and for face identification.