Improving the accuracy of EWTs - Cognitive Interviews

Fisher & Geiselman argued that eyewitness testimonies could be improved if the police used better interview techniques. Techniques should be based on psychological insights into how memory works - therefore developing the cognitive interview (CI) based on cognitive psychology. There are 4 main techniques that are used;

1. Report everything - witnesses are encouraged to include every single detail of the event, even if it seems irrelevant. What may seem like a trivial detail could be important and may also trigger other important memories

2. Reinstate the context - the witness should return to the original crime scene 'in their mind' and imagine the environment (such as what the weather was like ) and their emotions. This is related to context-dependent forgetting

3. Reverse the order - events should be recalled in a different chronological order to the original sequence. This is done to prevent people reporting their expectations of how the event must have happened rather than the actual events. It also prevents dishonesty (it's harder to lie…