Enhanced Cognitive Interview

Question 1

Features

Answer 1

No distractions or unnecessary interruptions or questions.
Flow of information controlled by the witness.
The use of open-ended questions, such as, ‘and then what happened?’
Witness to speak slowly.
Witness reminded not to guess and to reply with ‘don’t know’ when necessary. This reduces the risk of false memories.
Interviewer to help reduce the anxiety of the witness.

Question 2

Stages

Answer 2

The interviewer encourages the witness to control the flow of information by asking open-ended questions on a neutral topic.
Context reinstatement, followed by witness’s free recall of events.
Interviewer stresses the importance of the ‘report everything’ component and of not guessing if the details are unknown.
The interviewer moves on to asking about the information using focused memory techniques, such as mental imager

Question 3

Modification to ECI

Answer 3

Holliday (2003) produced a modified version for use with children. Holliday emphasised the building of trust between the interviewer and the witness, but removed the ‘change perspective’ to concerns that young children would find this too difficult.
Shorter version of the CI and ECI are also used because of the time constraints experienced by many police forces who do not have the time to use the full version.

Question 4

Research findings

Answer 4

Fisher et al. (1989) found that the ECI produced superior results in comparison to the standard police interview.
Coker (2013) found that an ECI that placed greater emphasis on the use of focused mental imagery produced more accurate details than standard CI.
Holliday (2003) compared the standard police interview with the MCI (designed for use with children) and found that the modified version produced more accurate results with groups of four to five and nine to ten year olds

Question 5

Evaluation

Answer 5

The CI has been highly successful and has led to calls for it to be used beyond the realm of police interviews.
But comparison between the standard police interview and the CI is difficult because the police interview techniques tend to vary, with no agreed upon format.
Also, the CI is very time consuming and not always appropriate or possible where time constraints are a factor.
The CI is not generally effective when witnesses are asked to identify a suspect from a photograph or from an identity parade.