the Cognitive interview

the Cognitive interview

1. what it consists of

   • context reinstatement (CR)
     • mentally reinstate the context of the target event. Recall the scene, the weather etc.
   • report everything (RE)
     • report every detail you can recall even if it seems trivial
   • recall in reverse order (RO)
     • report the episode in several different temporal orders moving backwards and forwards in time
   • recall from changed perspective (CP)
     • try to describe the episode as it wold have been seen from different viewpoint

2. enhanced cognitive interview

   • Fisher and Geiselman (1987) later produced what they considered to be an improved version of the cognitive interview
     • consists of the original four strategies plus other techniques
       • such as interviewers building a rapport with witness and works with focused retrieval

3. improving EWT with CIS

   • Geiselman et al. (1986)
     • compared traditional police interviewing with the CIS
       • police training videos were shown to 89 students then, 48 hours later, the students were taped being interviewed by experienced enforcement officers trained in standard interviewing or CIS
       • analysis of the tapes showed no differences in the average number of errors made by witnesses in terms of incorrect memories (such as colour of items of clothing) and confabulations (descriptions of items not actual in the video)
         • however correct items were recalled more often when the CIS was used
     • the usual criticism of such studies are that the use of student volunteers and videos of crimes lacks realism
       • to counter this, Fisher et al. (1989) trained detectives in Florida to use the CIS, and compared their performance in interviewing witnesses in real crimes with their performance before training
         • claimed that up to 47% more information was gained using CIS

4. Evaluation

   • accuracy at a cost
     • research has shown that the cognitive interview produces more correct details than standard interview procedures
       • but some studies have suggested errors might also be increased
         • Kohnken et al. (1999) in a meta-analysis of 32 experiments, found that there was a tendency for cognitive interview procedures to increase recall of both correct and incorrect details
   • lack of ecological validity
     • lab studies of CIS effectiveness may lack realism to different degrees and so be low in ecological validity, making it risky to generalize findings to other situations
   • resistance to being mislead
     • Geiselman et al (1986)
       • exposed 66 undergraduates to a staged incident, then carried out either standard or cognitive interviews into which they inserted leading and misleading questions
         • when tested later, students in the CIS condition were much less susceptible to these questions than standard-interview students- making their testimony more reliable
   • appropriateness for children
     • Holliday (2003)
       • showed children (4-5years and 9-10) a 5 minute video of a birthday party
         • she then tested their recall the next day using the CIS or standard interview
           • although older children remembered more information and were more accurate, both age groups outperformed their peers in the cognitive interview compared with the traditional interview
     • Harrower (1998)
       • believed cognitive interview technique was especially appropriate for the use with child witnesses of physical or sexual abuse, as long as the interviewer is properly trained in interviewing children