Improving the accuracy of EWT - Cognitive Interview

Question 1

Who developed the cognitive interview as a way of improving the accuracy of EWT and what is it?

Answer 1

• Fisherman and Gelselman developed the cog int, a technique used by police to interview witnesses after a crime/accident to gather the most accurate and detailed memory possible
• Lots of open questions are asked where witnesses are not interrupted and free to expand on their own
• Uses 4 diff techniques; recall everything, context reinstatement, recall in reverse and recall from changed perspective

Question 2

Describe what is meant by the technique recall everything (RE) and how it will improve EWT

Answer 2

• witness is asked to report all details of event even if it seems irrelevant
• this will improve EWT as it might trigger a memory/additional info
• e.g. start from beginning, what happened the morning of the robbery

Question 3

Describe what is meant by the technique context reinstatement (CR) and how it will improve EWT

Answer 3

• witness is asked to mentally place themselves back at scene of event and imagine env such as weather, what they could see and their emotions
• this will improve EWT as it may help trigger forgotten memories that were not currently accessible due to retrieval failure
• e.g. close your eyes, what do you see?

Question 4

Describe what is meant by the technique recall in reverse (RO) and how it will improve EWT

Answer 4

• witness is asked to recall everything in a diff order, such as from end to start
• this will improve EWT as it prevents witnesses reporting what they expected to happen rather than what acc happened, also prevents lying as its harder to do in reverse
• e.g. tell us what happened from when you entered the bank

Question 5

Describe what is meant by the technique recall from changed perspective (CP) and how it will improve EWT

Answer 5

• witness is asked to recall incident from anothers perspective who also witnessed crime such as a witness or criminal
• this will improvr EWT as it may prevent witnesses reporting what they expected to happen rather than what acc happened
• e.g. imagine your the bank robber, what do u see

Question 6

What are the three AO3 PEELS to evaluate the cognitive interview as a way of improving the accuracy of EWT?

Answer 6

RTS by Kohnken
Discussion - weakness - false positives
Weakness - not all techniques are equally as effective