Memory - Improving accuracy of eyewitness testimony

Question 1

Why is reporting everything important?

Answer 1

• Witnesses may leave out details they feel are irrelevant especially if they do not fit into their existing schemas for that type of event
• Reporting everything prevents judgements on what to report being made on the basis of schema
• These memories may then in turn act to cue other memories about the crime and so forgetting is reduced

Question 2

Why is mental reinstatement of original context important?

Answer 2

• Context cues encoded at the time of the crime can be recalled and these in turn will trigger recall of memories which otherwise will be forgotten

Question 3

Why is recalling events in a different order important?

Answer 3

• This interrupts the use of schemas by for example working from the mid-point backwards or from the end backwards, and prevents expectations of what might have happened from dictating their testimony

Question 4

Why is changing the perspective important?

Answer 4

• Prevents the activation of schemas
• Otherwise eg, if you saw a robbery as you walked into Tesco, your schema of what happens every time you walk into Tesco may be what you report instead of what actually happened

Question 5

What are the strengths of the cognitive interview?

Answer 5

Research support for the effectiveness:

• Meta-analysis combining data from 50 studies
• Enhanced interview produced more correct information than the standard police interview

This is useful because the accurate information makes it more likely that the correct suspect is identified

Question 6

What are the limitations of the cognitive interview?

Answer 6

Time consuming

• More time is needed to carry out the interview and train police
• This means there may not be enough time to carry out the interviews properly and so the benefits are not used in every case

Creates an increase in inaccurate information

• Found an 81% increase in accurate information but also a 61% increase in incorrect information when CI was compared to a standard interview
• This could lead to possible misidentification of a suspect

Question 7

What are the 4 cognitive interviews retrieval techniques?

Answer 7

1 - Report everything
2 - Mental reinstatement of original context (mentally recreate incident)
3 - Recall events in different order
4 - Changing the perspective (imagine other points of view of incident)