The Cognitive Interview

Question 1

What is the cognitive interview

Answer 1

It’s a method of interviewing eyewitnesses to help them retrieve more accurate memories
It uses four main techniques all based on well established psychological knowledge of human memory
-report everything (cues/ encoding specificity principle)
-reinstated the context (context dependent forgetting)
-report in reverse order (more concentration is needed)(less likely to have schemas)
-report in changed perspective (put themselves in someone else’s perspective)

Question 2

What’s a strength of cognitive interview

Answer 2

Well supported by psychological research
1. Showed participants a film pod a violent crime and CI lead to better memory of events
2.conducted field experiment with actual interviews and the CI was more effective
3.combined data from 50 studies showed CI lead to more correct information
Real practical benefits

Question 3

What’s 3 limitations of the cognitive interview

Answer 3

1. Time consuming , police may be reluctant to use it as it takes longer , more time needed to get the witness to relax. The CI needs special training and police doesn’t have the funds
   2.produces an increase of inaccurate information, research shows that CI produces a ,massive increase in correct information as incorrect information so all information needs to be collected with caution
2. Doesn’t improve recall in all cases. Reviewed many cases which showed that children under 6 recall events less accurately due to the complex questions and instructions
   Shows its not generalisable