Cognitive Interview

Cognitive Interview

1. procedure designed by police to improve witness recall by drawing on retrieval cues

2. Techniques

   • Report everything
   • Recall from changed perspective
   • Recall in reverse order
   • Context reinstatement

3. Geiselman

   • lab exp
     • - reduced ecological validity
   • student ps shown videos of violent crime and then interviewed by police
     • half were interviewed in standard police interviewing, half cognitive interview
     • Ps not representative (students), cannot be generalised
   • found that students recalled more items in cognitive interview than standard
   • supports the idea that cognitive interviewing is effective

4. Fisher et al

   • detective's performance increased when trained in cognitive interviews

5. Evaluation

   • + supported by research e.g. Geiselman & Fisher
   • - some techniques might mislead witnesses e.g. recall from changed perspective
   • - CI not very effective with young children, instruction may be harder to understand