COGNITIVE INTERVIEW

COGNITIVE INTERVIEW

1. CONTEXT REINSTATEMENT

   • witness must recall the context before/during/after the event e.g. where,why,feelings.
     • designed to provide cues to jog memory

2. REPORT EVERYTHING

   • witness must recall every little detail of the scene including ones seemingly irrelevant
     • added detail could provide cues for more important details.

3. RECALL FROM A CHANGED PERSPECTIVE

   • recalling the event from the perspective of different people eg a shopkeeper

4. CHANGE SEQUENCE OF RECALL

   • reporting what happened in a different order eg from the end to the start.

5. EVALUATION

   • cognitive interview is effective. a study showed ps a video of a crime and then interviewed ps with either cognitive/standard interview or an interview under hypnosis. Cognitive interview was most successful.
   • a study has found it to be useful in real life, detectives used either a standard or cognitive interview on witnesses and 47% more facts were recalled with cognitive.
   • while it produces more detail, it also produces extra inaccurate info and becomes time consuming for the police.
   • the cognitive interview is not suitable for use on young children as their memories are less accurate.