Memory: Improving The Accuracy Of Eyewitness Testimony - The Cognitive Interview - 24/25

Question 1

The police use which type of interview to gain the most accurate eyewitness testimonies?

Answer 1

The Cognitive Interview

Question 2

What does the cognitive interview facilitate in terms of eyewitness testimony?

Answer 2

Most accurate EWT

Question 3

What type of questions are used in a cognitive interview?

Answer 3

Open

Question 4

Open questions are used so witnesses can … on their own answers

Answer 4

Expand

Question 5

What type of questions are NOT used in a cognitive interview?

Answer 5

Closed/Leading Questions

Question 6

Who created the cognitive interview?

Answer 6

Fisher & Geiselman

Question 7

Name the 4 techniques in the cognitive interview:

Answer 7

Recall Everything
Context Reinstatement
Recall in Reverse
Recall from a Changed Perspective

Question 8

How many techniques does the cognitive interview contain?

Answer 8

4

Question 9

In recall everything, witnesses are encouraged to recall all details including…

Answer 9

trivial details

Question 10

What may trivial details do to an eyewitness testimony?

Answer 10

Trigger recall/memories

Question 11

Participants are encouraged to recall all details of the event including minor/trivial details - what technique is this?

Answer 11

Recall Everything

Question 12

Asking a witness to mentally place themselves back at the scene of the crime is which technique of the cognitive interview?

Answer 12

Context Reinstatement

Question 13

In context reinstatement, witnesses are asked to mentally place themselves where?

Answer 13

At the scene of the crime

Question 14

When mentally placing themselves back at the scene of the crime, what 2 factors are witnesses asked to report on?

Answer 14

What they can see and how they felt (emotion)

Question 15

Asking a witness how they felt on the morning prior to a crime e.g. a robbery is an example of what technique?

Answer 15

Context Reinstatement

Question 16

What type of cue does asking the participant to mentally place themselves back at the scene of the crime and report on what they could see trigger?

Answer 16

External cues

Question 17

What type of reinstatement does asking the participant to mentally place themselves back at the scene of the crime and report on what they could see trigger?

Answer 17

Context

Question 18

What type of cue does asking the participant to mentally place themselves back at the scene of the crime and report on what they felt?

Answer 18

Internal Cues

Question 19

What type of reinstatement does asking the participant to mentally place themselves back at the scene of the crime and report on what they felt?

Answer 19

Context Reinstatement

Question 20

In recall in reverse, the witness is asked to report what happened in a different

Answer 20

Chronological order

Question 21

What technique of the cognitive interview is asking the witness to recall events of the crime in a different chronological order?

Answer 21

Recall in Reverse

Question 22

What is prevented by asking the witness to recall in a different chronological order?

Answer 22

Schema/Expectations

Question 23

What is it harder for the witness to do when recalling in reverse?

Answer 23

Lie

Question 24

Which 2 techniques of the cognitive interview are effective in preventing schema/expectations?

Answer 24

Recall in Reverse

Recall from a Changed Perspective

Question 25

Which technique of the cognitive interview is asking the witness to recall the crime from another person’s perspective e.g. the perpetrator?

Answer 25

Recall from changed perspective

Question 26

Recall from changed perspective asks the witness to recall the event from….

Answer 26

Another person’s perspective

Question 27

Recalling the events of a crime from another person’s perspective is effective in preventing?

Answer 27

Schema/Expectations

Question 28

What technique is the following question from in the cognitive interview:
‘Start from the beginning, what happened the morning of the robbery?’

Answer 28

Recall Everything

Question 29

What technique is the following question from in the cognitive interview:
‘Close your eyes, what do you see? What was the weather like//how were you feeling when the robbers entered the bank?’

Answer 29

Context Reinstatement

Question 30

What technique is the following question from in the cognitive interview:
‘Tell us what happened from when the police arrived at the bank back to the beginning of the day’

Answer 30

Recall in Reverse

Question 31

What technique is the following question from in the cognitive interview:
‘Imagine you are the bank robber, what did you see?’

Answer 31

Recall from a Changed Perspective

Question 32

Describe ‘recall everything’

Answer 32

The witness is asked to report all details of the event, even if it seems irrelevant.

Question 33

How might ‘recall everything’ improve eye witness testimony?

Answer 33

Might act as a trigger to a memory and additional information.

Question 34

Give an example of a question that might be asked when witnesses are being asked to recall everything.

Answer 34

“Start from the beginning, what happened on the morning of the robbery.”

Question 35

Describe ‘context reinstatement’

Answer 35

Witness is asked to mentally place themselves back at the scene of the event and imagine the environment such as the weather and what they could see, and their emotions.

Question 36

How will context reinstatement improve eyewitness testimony?

Answer 36

Using context and state dependent cues might trigger memories of the event that might appear forgotten but are inaccessible due to retieval failure.

Question 37

Give an example of a question that might be asked in context reinstatement.

Answer 37

“Close your eyes…what do you see, what is the weather like, what was X wearing, how were you feeling?”

Question 38

Describe ‘recall in reverse’

Answer 38

The witness is asked to report what happened in a different chronological order

Question 39

How does recall in reverse improve eyewitness testimony?

Answer 39

Prevents witnesses reporting what they expected to happen (schema) rather than what happened. It also prevents dishonesty, as it is harder to lie when having to reverse a story.

Question 40

Describe ‘recall from a changed perspective’

Answer 40

The witness is asked to recall the incident from another person’s perspective who witnessed the crime e.g. another witness or the perpetrator.

Question 41

How will recall from a changed perspective improve eyewitness testimony?

Answer 41

May prevent witnesses reporting what they expected to happen (schema) rather than what happened.

Question 42

Give an example of a question that demonstrates recall from a changed perspective.

Answer 42

“Imagine you’re the bank robber…what do you see?”

Question 43

Who provides research to support the effectiveness of the cognitive interview in improving the accuracy of EWT?

Answer 43

Köhnken et al (1999)

Question 44

What did Köhnken et al report in their meta analysis?

Answer 44

Cognitive interview had an increase of 41% in correct information compared to the standard interview.

Question 45

What did Köhnken et al suggest about false positives in cognitive interview?

Answer 45

As well as correct information, often more incorrect iterms are also recalled in cognitive interview, with a 61% increase of incorrect information reported in a cognitive interview compared to a standard interview.

Question 46

What limitation of the cognitive interview to Milne and Bull (2002) suggest?

Answer 46

Not all techniques in the CI are equally as effective. Milne and Bull found that each technique produced more information than the standard interview, but also found that using a combination of report everything and context reinstatement produced better recall than any of the other elements.