Eyewitness testimony: The Cognitive Interview (AO1)

Question 1

Who came up with the Cognitive Interview?

Answer 1

Fisher & Geiselman.

Question 2

What are the 4 techniques used in the cognitive interview/

Answer 2

Report everything, reinstate the context, reverse the order and change the perspective.

Question 3

Explain ‘report everything’:

Answer 3

Witnesses are encouraged to include every detail of the event even if irrelevant. This could trigger memories and recall.

Question 4

Explain ‘reinstate the context’:

Answer 4

Witnesses return to original crime scene in ‘their mind’; imagines emotions and weather. Based on context-dependent forgetting, cues from the context trigger recall.

Question 5

Explain ‘reverse the order’:

Answer 5

Recall events in a different order. Prevents people basing their expectations of how the event must have happened rather than the actual events. Prevents dishonesty.

Question 6

Explain ‘changing perspective’:

Answer 6

Witnesses recall incident from other perspectives. Prevents influence of expectations and schema on recall.

Question 7

State some features of the enhanced cognitive interview by Fisher:

Answer 7

Reducing eyewitness anxiety, minimising distractions, getting witness to speak slowly, asking open-ended questions, not making too much or too little eye contact.

Question 8

What did Fisher and Geiselman claim?

Answer 8

EWT could be improved if police use techniques based on psychological insights into how memory works.