Cognitive interview technique

Question 1

Why was the cognitive interview technique developed?

Answer 1

To improve retrieval

Question 2

Who developed the cognitive interview test?

Answer 2

Geiselman et al

Question 3

What is the cognitive interview test?

Answer 3

A police interview technique designed to encourage witnesses of the crime to recreate the original context in order to increase access and enhance retrieval of stored memory

Question 4

What are the four key features of cognitive interview test?

Answer 4

• Mental reinstatement
• Report everything
• Recall in reverse order
• Recall in changed perspective

Question 5

What is mental reinstatement?

Answer 5

Interviewee mentally reinstates the context of the target event. Recall the scene e.g. weather, preceding events, thinking, feeling

Question 6

What is report everything?

Answer 6

report every detail you can recall even if it seems trivial, no interruptions from interviewer

Question 7

What is recall in reverse order?

Answer 7

Report the episode in several different temporal orders moving backwards and forwards

Question 8

What is recall from a changed perspective?

Answer 8

try to describe the episode from different viewpoints, not just your own

Question 9

Describe the standard police interview

Answer 9

• Fisher and Geiselman
• found that the standard interview revolved around the interviewer rather than the witness
• they found that witnesses were asked a series of predetermined, direct and close-ended questions aimed to elicit facts
• Argued such discusions during interviews may contaminate a witness’ memory leading to inaccurate recall
• At times interviewer asked leading questions to confirm their beliefs about the crime

Question 10

A03 - Supporting research

Answer 10

• Strength is that there is a lot of supporting research
• Meta analysis of 53 studies show that on average the CI has a 34% increase in correct information generalized compared to the standard interview test (Kohnken et al)
• although most of these studies contain volunteer witnesses and are lab studies which could show the low ecological validity
• Milne and Bull found when using ‘report everything’ and ‘mental reinstatement’ techniques of CI recall was higher
• Therefore, this shows that CI is an effective technique in increasing the accessibility of memories

Question 11

A03 - Effectiveness in terms of quantity rather than quality

Answer 11

• Criticism of the CI is that effectiveness has largely been in terms of quantity rather than quality
• The procedure is designed to increase the amount of data without compromising the quality
• Kohnken et al found that 81% increase of correct information but also 61% of false information when the enhanced CI was compared to the standard interview
• Therefore, not all information from the CI can be accurate and needs to be collected with caution

Question 12

A03 - Training is needed to implement it

Answer 12

• A limitation of CI is the amount of time and training needed to implement it
• From their interviews with police, Kebell and Wagstaff report a problem with the CI in practice
• Police officers suggest that this technique requires more time than is often available
• and that they prefer to use deliberate strategies aimed to limit an eyewitness report to the minimum information that the officers require is necessary
• In addition, the CI requires specialist training and many forces have not been able to provide more than a few hours (Kebell and Wagstaff
• this means it is hard to establish the overall technique of the CI when using all its components