MEM 13 - EWT Cognitive interview

Question 1

What is a cognitive interview (CI)?

Answer 1

• A method of interviewing eyewitnesses to help them retrieve more accurate memories
• It uses four main techniques, all based on evidence-based psychological knowledge of human memory – report everything, reinstate the context, reverse the order and change perspective

Question 2

What are the different types of cognitive interview?

Answer 2

• Report everything
• Reinstate the context
• Reverse the order
• Change perspective

Question 3

What is report everything?

Answer 3

• Witnesses may omit details they feel are irrelevant, especially if they do not fit into their existing schemas for that type of event
• Witnesses are encouraged to include every single detail of the event, even though it may seem small, irrelevant or the witness doesn’t feel confident about it
• Seemingly trivial details may be important, and they may trigger other important memories and can increase witness accuracy

Question 4

What is reinstate the context?

Answer 4

• The witness should return to the original crime scene “in their mind” and imagine the environment (such as what the weather was like, what they could see), the smells, the time of day and their emotions (such as whether they were happy or bored), helping improve recall accuracy
• This is related to context dependent forgetting

Question 5

What is reverse the order?

Answer 5

• Events should be recalled in a different order from the original sequence, for example, from the final point back to the beginning, or from the middle to the beginning
• This is done to prevent people reporting their expectations of how the event must have happened rather than reporting the actual events and prevents schema activation
• It also prevents dishonesty (it’s harder for people to produce an untruthful account if they have to reverse it)

Question 6

What is change perspective?

Answer 6

• Witnesses should recall the incident from other people’s perspectives
• For example, how it would have appeared to other witnesses or to the perpetrator
• This again is done to disrupt the effect of expectations and the effect of schema on recall
• The schema you have for a particular setting generate expectation of what would have happened, and it is the schema that is recalled rather than what actually happened

Question 7

What is enhanced cognitve interview (ECI)?

Answer 7

Fisher et al. (1987) developed some additional elements of the CI to focus on the social dynamics of the interaction.

For example:
- Minimising distractions
- Knowing when to establish eye contact and when to relinquish it
- Getting the witness to speak slowly
- Asking open-ended questions
- Reduction of anxiety

Question 8

What are the strengths of cognitive interview?

Answer 8

• One strength is that there is evidence that it works

Question 9

What evidence is there that cognitive interviews work?

Answer 9

• For example, a meta-analysis by Günter Köhnken et al. (1999) combined data from 55 studies comparing the CI (and the ECI) with the standard police interview
• The CI gave an average 41% increase in accurate information compared with the standard interview
• Only four studies in the analysis showed no difference between the types of interview
• This shows that the Cl is an effective technique in helping witnesses to recall information that is stored in memory (available) but not immediately accessible

Question 10

What are the limitations of cognitive interview?

Answer 10

• Increase in the amount of inaccurate information recalled by participants
• Not all of its elements are equally effective or useful
• Police officers may be reluctant to use CI

Question 11

Why aren’t all elements of CI effective?

Answer 11

• Rebecca Milne and Ray Bull (2002) found that each of the four techniques used alone produced more information than the standard police interview
• But they also found that using a combination of report everything and reinstate the context produced better recall than any of the other elements or combination of them
• This confirmed police officers’ suspicions that some aspects of the CI are more useful than others
• This casts some doubt on the credibility of the overall cognitive interview

Question 12

What issues do CIs pose if they produce inaccurate information?

Answer 12

• Köhnken et al. also found an increase in the amount of inaccurate information recalled by participants
• This was a particular issue in the ECI, which produced more incorrect details than the CI
• Cognitive interviews may sacrifice quality of EWT (i.e. accuracy) in favour of quantity (amount of details)
• This means that police officers should treat eyewitness evidence from Cls/ECls with caution

Question 13

Why might police officers be reluctant to use CI?

Answer 13

• It takes more time and training than the standard police interview
• For example, more time is needed to establish rapport with a witness and allow them to relax
• The CI also requires special training, and many forces do not have the resources to provide more than a few hours (Kebbell and Wagstaff 1997)
• This suggests that the complete CI as it exists is not a realistic method for police officers to use and (as in the point above) it might be better to focus on just a few key elements

Question 14

How is a variation of CI used in the police force? What are its strengths and weaknesses?

Answer 14

• Police forces have taken a ‘pick and mix’ approach to the various techniques in the CI
• This means it is hard to compare the effectiveness of different approaches in research studies
• On the other hand, this ‘pick and mix’ approach is more flexible
• It means that individuals can develop their own approach according to what works best for them