Lesson 12: Cognitive Interview

Question 1

What did the standard interview consist of?

Answer 1

• questions were brief, direct, fact based and closed

- witnesses were interrupted as not allowed to expand upon answers

Question 2

What are the stages of the cognitive interview?

Answer 2

Geisalman developed the cognitive interview with 4 stages:

1) Context Reinstatement: witness mental recreates an image of incident including details of environment and their emotional state. These may act as retrieval cues to improve recall
2) Report Everything: witness recalls all details about the event, even details that seem insignificant. This highlights details that may have been overlooked and could trigger other memories
3) Recall from Changed Perspective: witness recreates situation mentally in a different POV, promoting a holistic view which could enhance recall and reduce the influence of schemas.
4) Recall in Reverse Order: witness recalls the scene in a different chronological order, verifying the accuracy of the account and reducing possibility that recall may be influenced by schemas

Question 3

What were the additional guidelines for police interviews?

Answer 3

• Encourage witness to relax and speak slowly, reducing anxiety and enhancing recall
• Avoid distractions
• Open ended questions
• Offer comments to clarify statements, can improve detail

Question 4

Evaluation

Answer 4

+ Geiselman showed participants a video of simulated crime and tested recall using the cognitive interview, standard interview or hypnosis. The cognitive interview led to the most info being recalled
+ Fisher trained police officers to use the cog interview and found there was a 46% increase in the amount of info given. 90% of that info was found accurate

• Koehnken found witnesses recalled more incorrect info when interviewed with the cognitive interview, because more details may include a mistake
• The interview is time consuming and officers do not have time/training/resources to implement it
• Memon saw that police officers believed that Recall from Changed Perspective misleads witnesses into speculating about the event rather than reporting what they saw