Cognitive Interview Technique 1985

Cognitive Interview Technique 1985

1. Aspects

   • Context reinstatement
     • Mentally reconstruct context of event
       • Scene
       • Weather
       • Thoughts/feelings
       • Preceding events
   • Report everything
     • Report every seemingly trivial detail recalled
   • Recall from changed perspective
     • Describe episode as seen from different viewpoint
   • Recall in reverse order
     • Recall in different orders
       • Back & forth in time

2. Participants can alter original statements

3. Why this improves recall

   • Avoids leading questions
     • Memory less prone to interference/contamination
       • More witness talking than interviewer
   • Discriminates between original & post-event information
     • Highlights inconsistencies
       • Shows possible incorrect details
   • Provides cues
     • Otherwise inaccessible retrieval
       • Peripheral details may remind of central details
   • Stimulates previously dormant neurons
     • Accessing memory trace from different neural pathways
       • New routes = more details recalled

4. Research evidence

   • Bekerian & Dennet
     • 27 studies, CI provided more accurate information
   • Holliday
     • Even in children, more correct details of birthday party with CI
   • Geiselman
     • More information (accurate) elicited from CI after film of crime
   • Koehnken
     • Also more inaccurate information
       • More information generally with CI