Improving the accuracy of EWT: cognitive interview

Question 1

Outline the techniques of the cognitive interview.

Answer 1

Report everything: The witness reports every detail they can remember. Trivial details might actually be important or trigger more important memories. Based on Tulving’s encoding specificity principle – retrieval cues.
Reinstate context: Crime scene ‘in their mind’ and tries to remember the environment and how they felt.
This is to reduce context-dependant forgetting and state-dependent forgetting. Based on Tulving’s encoding specificity principle – retrieval cues.
Reverse Order: Recalling from the middle or end of a sequence of events. This is to reduce the influence of the witness reporting their expectations (influence of a schema) of what happened rather than actual events.
It also helps to reduce dishonesty.
Change perspective: The witness recalls the incident from another person’s perspective e.g. other witness, offender. This is to reduce the influence of the witness reporting their expectations (influence of schema) of what happened rather than actual events.

Question 2

Outline the enhanced cognitive interview.

Answer 2

Fisher et al (1987)
This also added the ability to maintain and relinquish eye contact between the interviewer and interviewee. Also includes reducing eyewitness anxiety, getting witness to speak slowly and asking open ended questions.

Question 3

What are the strengths of the cognitive interview?

Answer 3

+ Milne and Bull found the 4 techniques used alone are 40% more effective than the standard police interview.
+The existence of the enhanced cognitive interview: Fisher et al (1987) This also added the ability to maintain and relinquish eye contact between the interviewer and interviewee. Also includes reducing eyewitness anxiety, getting witness to speak slowly and asking open ended questions. CI has been developed to be even more comprehensive.
+Highly standardized, reduces bias of police officers in interview and maximizes amount of info retrieved from all individuals.

Question 4

What are the weaknesses of the cognitive interview?

Answer 4

• Counterpoint: The cognitive interview is more time consuming than the standard police interview because it takes more time and training. The cognitive interview is also more costly because it involves lots of training of police officers.
• Counterpoint: Milne and Bull also found Report everything and Reinstate Context used together was most effective so not all techniques are equally effective.
• Counterpoint: May therefore not be suitable for those who are not neurotypical e.g. those with autism or ADHD.