cognitive interview

cognitive interview

1. Fisher and Geiselman 1992 improved the interviewing techniques based on onn psychological insight on how memory works

2. report everything

   • include every detail even is the seem trivial as they may trigger other important memories

3. reinstate the context

   • return to the original crime scene in the mind and is related to context dependent forgetting

4. reverse the order

   • prevents reporting their expectations and dishonesty

5. change the perspective

   • disrupts the effect of expectation and schema on recall

6. enhance cognitive interview

   • focus on social dynamics
     • needs to know when to establish and relinquish eye contact
     • reducing anxiety
     • minimising distractions
     • witness speaks slowly
     • asking open-ended questions

7. evaluation

   • the CI is time-consuming
     • police may be reluctant to use CI as it takes more time than a standard interview and also requires training. this means it's unlikely that the full version of CI is actually used
   • some elements may be more useful than others
     • Milne and bull 2002 combined report everything and reinstate the context and had better recall than any other conditions. this is a strength as it suggests at least some aspects of CI could be used to improve police interviews
   • support for the effectiveness of the ECI
     • Kohnen et al 1999 carried out a meta-analysis from 50 studies and found ECI constantly provided more correct information than the standard interview. this is a strength as it shows the practical benefits of police using ECI and leads to a greater chance of catching and charging a criminal which is beneficial to the whole of society
   • Cl leads to an increase in inaccurate information
     • Kohnen et al 1999 found an 81% increase of correct information but also a 61% increase in incorrect information (false positive) when CI was compared to a standard interview