Improving the accuracy of EWT: cognitive interview Flashcards
(9 cards)
Who proposed the Cognitive interview as a way to improve EWT?
-Fisher and Geiselman
What are the 4 techniques of the Cognitive interview?
1) Report everything
2) Reinstate Context
3) Reverse the order
4) Change perspective
a) What is reporting everything b)Why can reporting everything improve recall in EWT?
a)encouraged to include every single detail of the event even if it may seem irrelevant.
b) Seemingly trivial details may actually be important and may trigger other important memories
a)What is reinstating the context and b) why can reporting everything improve recall
a)Witness should return to original crime scene “in their mind” and imagine the environment and their emotions at the time
b) Related to context and state-dependent forgetting: may invite cues to help memory
a)What is reversing the order and b) what does it prevent
a)Events should be recalled in a different order from the sequence
b)This is done to prevent people reporting expectations of how the event happened, also prevents dishonesty
a)What is changing the perspective and b) what would it prevent?
a)Witnesses should recall the incident from other people’s perspectives, how it would have appeared to other witnesses etc.
b) This is done to prevent people reporting their expectations and the effect of a schema on recall. The schema for a particular setting would generate expectations of what would have happened and schema is recalled not actual events
What did Fisher add in the enhanced cognitive interview (ECI)?
-added additional elements to CI to focus on social dynamics of the interaction: establishing eye contact and when to relinquish it
-Also ECI includes ideas such as reducing EW anxiety and minimizing distractions
-Ask open-ended question (not leading or closed questions)
What is the strength of the CI for improving accuracy of EWT?
-Support for effectiveness of CI: metanalysis by Kohnken combined study from studies comparing the CI (and ECI) with standard police interviews. The CI gave an average increase in accurate information compared with standard interviews. only 4 studies showed no difference between types of study. Shows that CI is an effective technique in helping witnesses to recall information.
However, Kohnken found an increase in the amount of inaccurate information recalled by participants. This particular issue in the ECI which produced more incorrect details CI. Therefore CI may sacrifice quality in favour for quantity. Therefore police officers should treat EW from CI/ECI with caution.
What are the limitations of CI improving the accuracy of the EWT?
-Some elements may be more useful: In the original CI, not all of its elements are equally useful. Milne and Bull found that each of the 4 techniques used alone produced more information than the standard police interview. But they found that using a combination of report everything and reinstate the context produced better recall than any other elements. This casts doubt on the credibility of the overall CI.
-CI is time-consuming: More time and training than a standard police interview. More time is needed to establish rapport with a witness to allow them to relax. CI also requires special training and may force to not have the resources to provide full training. This suggests that the complete CI as it exists is not a realistic method for police officers to use.
