Describe and evaluate the use of the cognitive interview to improve the accuracy of eyewitness testimony (16 marks)

A01

Cognitive interview

• A method of interviewing eye witnesses to help them retrieve more accurate information
• It uses 4 main techniques, all based on well-established psychological knowledge of human memory

Technique 1: Report everything

• Witnesses are encouraged to report every detail of the event, even if they believe the information to be trivial
• Trivial details may be important later on, and can trigger other important memories

Technique 2: Reinstate the context

• Witnesses should return to the crime scene in their mind and imagine the environment e.g. weather, what they could see, how they were feeling
• Related to context dependent forgetting - accurate recall is 40% lower in non-matching conditions (Godden and Baddeley, 1975)

Technique 3: Reverse the order

• Recall events from a different chronological order e.g. from the final point to the beginning
• Reduces peoploe recalling expectations of what happened rather than what really happened
• Prevents dishonesty - it is harder to recall an untruthful account if the order is reversed

Technique 4: Change perspective

• Witnesses recall the events from someone elses perspective
• Disrupts effects of schema on recall - the schema you have for a particular setting generates expectations of what would have happened, rather than what actually happened

Enhanced cognitive interview

• Fischer et al (1987) added additional elements to the CI…