The Cognitive Interview

Question 1

Who came up with the cognitive interview (CI)?

Answer 1

Fisher and Geiselman

Question 2

What are the 4 stages of the CI?

Answer 2

1. Report Everything
2. Reinstate the Context
3. Reverse the Order
4. Change Perspective

Question 3

How and why do witnesses have to report everything?

Answer 3

WHAT
Encouraged to report every detail of the event, even if it seems irrelevant

WHY
This can trigger other memories

Question 4

How and why do witnesses have to reinstate the context?

Answer 4

WHAT
Witnesses asked to mentally recreate the original crime scene in their mind and imaging the ENVIRONMENT and their EMOTIONS

WHY
This is to discourage context-dependent forgetting (where recall depends on external cues

Question 5

How and why do witnesses have to reverse the order?

Answer 5

WHAT
Witnesses asked to recall the event in a different order (eg from middle to end)

WHY
To prevent people reporting their expectations of how the event happened, rather than what actually happened

Question 6

How and why do witnesses have to change perspective?

Answer 6

WHAT
Witnesses asked to recall the incident from a different POV (eg from another witness or the criminal)

WHY
To stop the effect of schemas on our recall

Question 7

What are schemas?

Answer 7

• Schemas create general expectations of how an event would have happened