Lesson 12 - Cognitive Interview

Question 1

What fisher et al find after studying real police interviews

Answer 1

Fisher et al studied real police interviews over a span of 4 months, finding that questions were brief, direct, fact based and closed. Whitenesses often got interrupted and prohibited to expanding into their answers. He referred to this as standard interview. Fisher et al argued that this may contribute to the failure of eyewitnesses to accurately recall the event they had whitnesssed

Question 2

What had geiselman et al develop?

Answer 2

They developed the cognitive interview to improve police interview techniques and obtain more accurate information from eyewitnesses. It has 4 main stages

Question 3

What are the 4 stages in order?

Answer 3

Context reinstatement
Report everything
Recall from changed perspective
Recall in reverse order

Question 4

What is context reinstatement

Answer 4

The whitness tries to mentally recreate an image of the situation, including details of the environment, such as weather conditions and emotions. These may act as retrieval cues to improve recall

Question 5

What is report everything?

Answer 5

The interviewer encourages the Witness to recall all details about the event, even though these details may seem unimportant. These may highlight details which have been overlooked and trigger other memories

Question 6

What is recall from changed perspective

Answer 6

The witness tries to mentally recreate the situation from different points of views, like from a Birdseye view or describing it from another whitenesses view, even the perpetrator . This provides a more holistic view of the event which might enhance recall and reduce influence of schemas. Schemas are mental structure of preconceived ideas

Question 7

What recall in reverse order?

Answer 7

The witness is asked to recall the scene in a different chronological order, from end to beginning. This should verify the accuracy of the witnesses account and reduce the possibility that recall is influenced by schemas

Question 8

What is the enhanced cognitive interview

Answer 8

Fisher added added additional guidelines:

• encourage witness to relax and speak slowly, reducing anxiety and enhancing recall
• avoid distractions
• use open ended questions
• offer comments to help clarify witness statements which may improve detail of the statement

Question 9

Evaluation of the cognitive interview

Answer 9

+ Geiselman et al. (1985) showed participants a video of a simulated crime and
tested recall using the cognitive interview, standard interview or hypnosis. The
cognitive interview led to the most information being recalled by the
eyewitnesses.
+ Fisher et al. (1990) trained real police officers in Miami to use the enhanced
cognitive interview when interviewing eyewitnesses. They found that on average
there was a 46% increase in the amount of information witnesses gave. 90% of
the information that could be verified was accurate.
- Koehnken et al. (1999) found that witnesses recalled more incorrect
information when interviewed with the cognitive interview compared to the
standard interview technique, perhaps because more detailed recall increases
the chance of making a mistake.
- The cognitive interview is time consuming to implement and police officers
often do not have the time, training and resources to use it.
- Memon et al. (1993) reported that police officers believed that Recall From
Changed Perspective stage of the cognitive interview misleads witnesses into
speculating about the event they witnessed rather than reporting what they
actually saw. For this reason the police were reluctant to use it.