The Cognitive Interview

Question 1

What are the four key points of the Cognitive Interview?

Answer 1

• Reverse the Order
• Report Everything
• Reinstate the Context
• Change Perspective

Question 2

What does it mean to Reverse the order?

Answer 2

• Describe what happened from the end back to the beginning

Question 3

What does it mean to Report Everything?

Answer 3

• No matter how minor the detail, report it

Question 4

What does it mean to Reinstate the Context?

Answer 4

• Put yourself mentally back in the situation

Question 5

What does it mean to Change Perspective?

Answer 5

• Put yourself in the shoes of someone else who was there

Question 6

What did Fisher and Geiselman believe that the Cognitive Interview could accomplish?

Answer 6

• Improve the accuracy of eye-witness testimony’s

Question 7

What is a key feature of the Enhanced Cognitive Interview?

Answer 7

• It focused on the social dynamics of the interactions in the interview e.g interviewer eye contact

Question 8

Why is the cognitive interview not necessarily realistic?

Answer 8

• Time-consuming. Police officer may be reluctant as it takes more time and training than a standard interview. CI requires special training and many forces dont have resources. Not realistic or applicable.

Question 9

What is a limitation of the features of the CI that may lessen it’s credibility?

Answer 9

• Not all elements are equally useful. (Milne and Bull, 2002). Using a combo of report everything and reinstate the context produced better than any of the other elements/combo’s of them. Casts doubt on the credibility of the overall cognitive interview.

Question 10

How has the CI been supported?

Answer 10

• Effectiveness support. (Kohnen 1999) combined data from 55 studies comparing CI with standard interview. CI gave 41% increase in accurate info compared with standard. Only 4 showed no difference. CI is an effective technique of recalling info.