Improving the Accuracy of Eyewitness Testimony: Cognitive Interview

4 Steps of a Cognitive Interview

1. Report everything

2. Reinstate the context

3. Change the order

4. Change perspective

What is Reinstating the context

Purpose of the stage

Describe the physical and psychological environment of the incident

Makes memories more accessible by triggering contextual and emotional cues to aid in recall

What is reporting everything

Purpose of this stage

Reporting all details no matter how seemingly irrelevant

One memory may act as a cue for another important memory

Creates a clearer idea of the whole event

What is “Changing the order”

Purpose of this stage

Starting from a different point or working backwards

Prevents use of schemas to fill in details

Makes it harder to lie as it is harder to consistently lie when recalling from a different order

Encourages the witness to think more deeply about the event, leading to more accurate recall.

What is Changing perspective

Purpose of this stage

Recalling event from perspective of someone else

Prevents use of schemas to fill gaps

Scientific criteria strength of Cognitive Interviews

• Based on a lot of scientific research including research into retrieval failure

• For example Godden and Baddeley research

• Produced empirical, objective and replicable results

• Also operationalised context dependent forgetting by having two clear variables of the location learn/recalled and amount of words recalled

• Therefore it is regarded as scientifically credible + should be taken seriously by the court system The reliability of Cognitive Interviews is supported by extensive scientific research, such as the studies conducted by Godden and Baddeley, demonstrating empirically validated methods and objective findings that enhance eyewitness accuracy, leading to greater credibility in legal contexts.

Research support strength

Holliday (2003)

Interviewed participants on a videoed crime using 3 different interviewing techniques

Found recall was most accurate when using Cognitive Interview

Suggests there is an increase in recall accuracy compared to other interviewing techniques

Negative of the use of Cognitive Interviews

• Time consuming

• Time is needed to establish rapport with witness to allow them to relax leading which may not be possible with time constraints

• Also requires extensive training

• Limits practical application in real-world settings.