The Cognitive Interview

Question 1

What are the four parts of the cognitive interview?

Answer 1

1. Report everything (recall all details of event)
2. Reinstate the context (mentally re-create an image of situation for context dependent forgetting)
3. Reverse order (recall events in non-chronological order).
4. change perspective (view from another witness)

Question 2

What does the enhanced cognitive interview include?

Answer 2

Interviewers working on focusing on social dynamics to do things such as reducing anxiety, minimise distractions and get witness to speak slowly and open ended questions.

Question 3

What study tested the effectiveness of the cognitive interview?

Answer 3

In one study students were told to watch a video of a crime, two days later half of them were interviewed with the standard place interview and half of the cognitive interview.
It was found that there was a large increase in items correctly recorded and a slight decrease in items incorrectly recorded with the cognitive interview.

Question 4

What is the strength of the cognitive interview?

Answer 4

It can be used worldwide for example, it has been tested in Brazil and found that it was superior there as well. This suggests that it is valid in all cult

Question 5

What are limitations of the cognitive interview?

Answer 5

Some parts of it are more effective than others, one study found that reinstate the context and report everything produce much better recall and more useful than any other element. This cast down on the credibility of the overall interview.

It is time consuming having to teach this method and train forces to use this method which makes it inefficient in real life scenarios.