8a. Improving the accuracy of eyewitness testimony: cognitive interview

What is Cognitive interview (CI)?

CI= A method of interviewing eyewitnesses to help them retrieve more accurate memories. It uses four main techniques, all based on evidence-based psychological knowledge of human memory – report everything, reinstate the context, reverse the order and change perspective.

What did Fisher and Geiselman do?

Fisher and Geiselman (1992) argued that eyewitness testimony could be improved if the police used better techniques when interviewing witnesses. Fisher and Geiselman recommended that such techniques should be based on psychological insights into how memory works, and called these techniques collectively the cognitive interview (CI) to indicate its foundation in cognitive psychology. There are four main techniques that are used.

What are the 4 main techniques that are used in the CI?

4 main techniques that are used in the CI=

1. Report everything

2. Reinstate the context

3. Reverse the order

4. Change perspective

What happens in technique: report everything?

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

What happens in technique: reinstate the context?

The witness should return to the original crime scene ‘in their mind’ and imagine the environment (such as what the weather was like, what they could see) and their emotions (such as whether they were happy or bored). This is related to context-dependent forgetting

What happens in technique: reverse the order?

Events should be recalled in a different order from the original sequence, for example, from the final point back to the beginning, or from the middle to the beginning. This is done to prevent people reporting their expectations of how the event must have happened rather than reporting the actual events. It also prevents dishonesty (it’s harder for people to produce an untruthful account if they have to reverse it).

What happens in technique: change perspective?

Witnesses should recall the incident from other people’s perspectives. For example, how it would have appeared to other witnesses or to the perpetrator. This again is done to disrupt the eff ect of expectations and also the eff ect of schema on recall. The schema you have for a particular setting (such as going into a shop) generate expectations of what would have happened and it is the schema that is recalled rather than what actually happened.

Why are the first 2 techniques only used in police interviews?

Police interviews of witnesses only use the first 2 stages/ techniques whereas full psychological interviews use all four. This is due to the purpose; police have to interview quickly as there is a strict timetable to obtain evidence and build cases whilst psychologists are gathering research data on more lenient timetables so can afford to take more time

What is the enhanced cognitive interview (ECI)?

Enhance cognitive interview (ECI)=

(it is actually the original version)

Fisher et al. (1987) developed some additional elements of the CI to focus on the social dynamics of the interaction. For example, the interviewer needs to know when to establish eye contact and when to relinquish it. The enhanced CI also includes ideas such as reducing eyewitness anxiety, minimising distractions, getting the witness to speak slowly and asking open-ended questions

When is enhanced CI mostly used?

Enhanced CI is mostly used in research on violent/ disturbing crimes, certain strategies do get used in police interviews but, again, not the full version as it tends to take longer