Improving The Accuracy Of Eyewitness Testimony: Cognitive Interview

What is a cogntitive interview?

A method if interviewing eyewitnesses to thelp them retrieve more accurate memories. It uses four main teachniques, all based on evidence-based psychological knowledge of human memory.

What are the four techniquires used in the cognitive interview?

• Report everything.

• Reinstating the context.

• Reverse the order.

• Change perspective.

What did Fisher and Geiselman (1992) argue?

That eyewitness testimony could be improved if the police used better techniques when interviewing witnesses. They recommended that such techniques should be based on psychological insights on how memory works.

What is report everything?

Witnesses are encouraged to include every single detail of the event, even though it may seem irrelivant or the witness doesn’t feel confident about it. Seemingly trivial details may be important and may trigger other important memories.

What is reinstating the context?

The witness should return to the original crime scene ‘in their head‘ and imagine the evironment and their emotions. This is related to context-dependent forgetting.

What is reversing the order?

Events should be recalled ina different order from the original sequence. This is done to prevent people reporting their expectations of how the event must have happened rather than reporting actual events. It also prevents dishonesty.

What is changing perspective?

Witnesses should recall the incident from other people’s perspectives. This is done to disrupt the effect of expectations and also the effect of schema on recall. The schema you have for a particular setting generate expectations of what would have happened.

What is the enhanced cognitive interview?

Fisher et al. developed some additional elements of the CI to focus on the social dynamics of the interaction.

What are some additional features of the ECI?

• Reducing eyewitnesses anxiety.

• Minimising distractions.

• Getting the witness to speak slowly.

• Asking open-ended questions.

What is the strength of CI?

• Support for its effectiveness.

How is support for its effectiveness a strength of CI?

A meta-analysis by Kohken at al. combined data from 55 studies comparing the Ci and ECI with the standard police interview. The CI gave an average 41% increase in accurate information compared to the standard interview. Only four studies in the analysis showed no difference between the types of interviews.

What does the meta analysis of Kohken et al. show?

That the CI is an effective technique in helping witnesses recall information that is stored in memory but not immediately accesible.

What is the counterpointo the support for the effectiveness of the CI?

Kohken et al. also found an increase in the amount of inaccurate information recalled by participants. This was a particular issue in the ECI, which produced more incorrect details than the CI. CI’s may sacrifice quality over quantity.

What does the counterpoint to the support for the effectiveness of CI mean?

That police officers should treat eyewitness evidence from CIs/ECIs with caution.

What are the limitations of the CI?

• Some elements may be more useful.

• CI is time consuming.

How are some elements being more useful a limitation of CI?

Milne and Ray found that each of the techniques used alone produced more information than the standard police interview. They also found that using a combination of report everything and reinstate the context produced better recall than any of the other elements or combination of them.

What does some elements of the CI being more useful mean?

That there is doubt about the overall credibility of the overall CI.

How is CI being time consuming a limitation?

Police officers may be reluctant to use the CI because it takes more time and training than the standard police interview. More time is needed to establish rapport and allow them to relax. The CI requires special training and many forces do not have the resources to provide more than a few hours.

What does CI being time consuming suggest?

That the complete CI as it exists is not a realistic method for police officers to use as it might be bettter to focus on just a few key elements.

What are the issues surround variations of the CI?

Police officers have taken a ‘pick and mix‘ approach to the techniques in the CI, meaning it is hard to compare the effectiveness of different approaches in research studies. On the other hand, this approach is more fexible and allows individuals to develop their own approach according to what works best for them