Improving the accuracy of EWT - cognitive interview

Who was the CI developed by?

Geiselman et al

What was the aim of the CI?

maximum accurate recall from eyewitnesses

what are the steps of cognitive interview?

1) report everything (in much detail as possible incl own thoughts + feelings)

2) reinstate context (+feelings/mood in their mind)

3) reverse order (finish → start, prevent ppl from rep own expectat rather than what happ)

4) change perspective (how it might've looked for another witness/perpetrator)

What are the two theories the cognitive interview technique is based on?

1. The spreading activation model

2. Cue-dependent remembering

What is the spreading activation model?

there are complex interrelated links in memory so asking eyewitnesses to recall info in diff orders/perspectives incr probability of seemingly irrelev info trigg off smth useful

What is the cue-dependent remembering theory?

• when we encode a mem, also encode other details, such as environ + how we feel at that time, along w the mem

• due to these cues, we find it easier to rmb how we are back in same environ (context-dependent) + have the same feelings (state-dependent)

• research has shown mentally recreating environmental + personal context helps improve memory of event

what are 2 strengths of the CI?

• + RS Kohnken et al. meta anal

• + some elements of CI may be more useful than others

what are 3 weaknesses of CI?

• - Kohnken meta-anal not completely supp CI

• - takes lot more time + eff comp to SI

• - CI limited

what research supports the CI?

• Kohnken et al. meta-an f CI and ECI had 41% incr in info

• Fisher et al. found CI gave 30% accur info when comp to stand police interview

• T: incr cred of technique, supp id CI more eff than SI

how does Kohnken’s meta-analysis not completely support the CI?

• KEA also f incr in innacur recall when using CI + esp using ECI comp to standard police inteview

• T: whilst CI + ECI prod more accur info, also prod more innacur info, reducing cred of technique

how does CI take a lot more time and effort?

• also, CI requires good qual training as its success depends on skills of interviewer

• T: theref not always possible to carry out CI

how are some elements of the CI more useful than others?

• rs has shown that rep everything + reinstate the context were most effec parts of CI in producing accurate recall

• T: CI may be adapted in future to be less time consum

how is the CI limited?

• Memon + Bull f children under 7yrs had difficulty understanding + following instructions, esp when asked to change order & recall from diff persp

• Geiselman supp this, f childr under 6yrs reported events less accur when CI was used

• T: CI lim in use, h ECI devel bc of this + uses same technique as CI but interviewer has to tailor their lang to suit EW → young child