Improving the Accuracy of EWT

Question 1

What is the Cognitive Interview?

Answer 1

• A method of interviewing eyewitnesses to help them retrieve more accurate memories.
• Uses four main techniques:
  1. Report everything
  2. Reinstate the context
  3. Reverse the order
  4. Change the perspective.

Question 2

Report Everything

Answer 2

• Include every detail even if it seems irrelevant or the witness does not feel confident about it.
• Seemingly trivial details may be important to increase recall as it may trigger other important memories.

Question 3

Reinstate the context

Answer 3

- Witness should return to the crime scene in their mind and imagine the environment and emotions.
- Increases recall as the reinstatments acts as a cue to trigger memories.
- Relates to retrieval failure in forgetting.

Question 4

Reverse the order

Answer 4

• Events should be recalled in a different order to the original sequence e.g. from the end point back to the beginning.
• Prevents people from reporting their expectations of how the event must have happened rather than the actual events. (schemas).
• Prevents dishonesty.

Question 5

Change the perspective

Answer 5

• Witnesses should recall the incident from other people’s perspective. e.g. how it would have looked to the perpetrator.
• Done to disrupt the effects of expectations and schema on recall.
• Schema for a particular setting generate expectations of what would have happened and the schema is recalled rather than what actually happened.

Question 6

Enhanced Cognitive Interview

Answer 6

• Fisher et al developed some additional elements of the CI to focus on the social dynamics of the interaction e.g. the interviewer needs to know when to establish eye contact and when to relinquish it.
• Enhanced CI includes ideas such as reducing eyewitness anxiety, minimising distractions, getting witnesses to speak slowly and asking open ended questions.

Question 7

Evaluation of Cognitive Interview - Research Support

Answer 7

• CI has been shown to produce better recall than standard police interviews.
• Geiselman et al found that after watching a film of a violent crime, after 48 hours, average recall of correctly recalled facts was 41.2 for CI, 38.0 for hypnosis and 29.4 for the standard police interview. Suggests that the cognitive interview should be used more commonly as opposed to standard police interviews as they produce better recall.
• Strength - CI leads to better memory for events with witnesses able to recall more relevant information.

Question 8

Evaluation of Cognitive Interview - Support for the effectiveness of ECI

Answer 8

• Evidence to support its usefulness.
• Kohnken conducted a meta analysis of 50 studies and found that the ECI consistently provided more correct information than the standard interview used by police. Suggests that the ECI has practical applications, allowing us to improve EWT accuracy in real life.
• Strength - studies such as this one indicate that there are practical benefits to the police of using ECI.

Question 9

Evaluation of Cognitive Interview - Time Consuming

Answer 9

• Time consuming to conduct.
• Police are reluctant to use CI as it takes much more time than a standard police interview. Have to establish a rapport and use more techniques. Takes a significant amount of time and effort for training to be provided. Suggests that police my be unwilling to undertake training on the cognitive interview.
• Weakness - CI will not be used consistently across all police forces and EWT will not always be improved.

Question 10

Evaluation of Cognitive Interview - Individual Differences

Answer 10

• Ci cannot be used on vulnerable people.
• Young children may not be abe to reverse the order as it is too complex. Additionally, elderly people’s memories may be impaired and these techniques may confuse them. Suggests that individual differences may actually cause worse and more inaccurate EWTs.
• Weakness - CI cannot be used on everyone.