Improving Accuracy

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FISHER ET AL (1987)

Studied real life interviews by detective officers in Florida over a 4 month period

Witnesses frequently bombarded with series of brief, direct, close-ended questions aimed to elicit facts

Sequencing of questions often out of sync with witnesses own mental representation of event

Witnesses often interrupted and not allowed to talk freely about experiments

Cognitive Interview Technique

Se

Set of instructions given by interviewer to the witness to reinstate original event and search memory by retrieval

Open Questions

Sequence of events important

Minimal distractions & interruptions

Pause after each question to allow witness to think

Report Everything (free recall)

Context Reinstatement (context - weather etc)

Recall in Reverse Order

Change the perspective (different person/place)

Additional Features to Cognitive Interview Technique

Encouraged to relax & speak slowly

Ask fewer questions so they talk at length

Offer comments to help clarify statements

Adapt questions to suit understanding of individual witnesses

Use focused memory techniques by encouraging witness to visualise suspect & crime scene

Evidence that it is effective

- Kohnken et al (1999) - Meta-analysis of 53 studies

- Cognitive Interview obtained 34% more detail than standard interview

Procedure slower & more time consuming

Effectiveness depends on how used - e.g. only one component used - not very effective

Harder to use with children

Improving Accuracy

Cognitive Interview Technique

Additional Features

Evaluation