Improving EWT: cognitive interview

Made by:

Fisher and Geiselman

1. Report everything

Witnesses are encouraged to include every single detail of the event, even if it seems irrelevant

2. Reinstate the context

Return to the original crime seen in your mind and image the environment, this is linked to context dependent forgetting

3. Reverse the order

Event should be recalled from a different order, for example backwards or from the middle to the beginning

4. Change perspective

Witnesses should recall the event from someone else perspective, for example if there was someone walking by. This is done to disrupt your expectations and the effect on scheme recall.

Enhanced cognitive interview (ECI)

Fisher developed on the original CI. the interviewer needs to know when to deliver eye contact, and reducing eyewitness anxiety and asking open ended questions

Time consuming

Police may be reluctant to use CI as it takes much more time than the standards police interview. The CI also requires specialist training so the police are unlikely to use the proper CI.

Research support for the ECI

Kohnken (1999) did a meta analysis and found that the ECI significantly improved recall. Showing that there is research support and practical benefits for the ECI

Some elements more valuable than others

Milne and Bull (2002) found that recall everything and reinstate the context used together produced better recall than any other component. CI does not need as much effort as before but still heavily improves EWT