Cognitive interview
Encyclopedia
The cognitive interview is a method of interviewing in which eyewitnesses
and victims report what they remember from a crime scene
. Using four retrievals, the primary focus of the cognitive interview is to make witnesses and victims of a situation aware of all the events that transpired. The CI aids in minimizing misinterpretation together with uncertainty that is otherwise seen in the questioning process of a standard police interview. Cognitive interview reliably enhances the process of memory
retrieval and has been found to elicit memories without generating inaccurate accounts of information or confabulations. Becoming increasingly popular with use in police investigations, training programs and a manual have been devised on how to properly conduct a cognitive interview.
of an eyewitness was an important determinant in whether the case was solved or not. However, it has been found that many eyewitness reports were unreliable as they could be incomplete, partially constructed and vulnerable to suggestions during the interviewing process. Studies have shown that interviewing techniques such as asking leading question
s and closed-ended questions can influence the responses given by the interviewee. Many of the techniques were explored by Elizabeth Loftus
, a researcher who studied eyewitness testimonies, the misinformation effect
, and false memories.
Cognitive interviews were developed in 1984 by researchers Geiselman, Fisher and their colleagues in response to the ineffective police interviewing techniques used in the past. Their goal was to suggest methods that increased the accuracies of eyewitness testimony. They found that when participants were trained in memory retrieval techniques, the participants recalled more correct information about an event that occurred on a questionnaire
. They based the techniques on four general memory retrieval rules based on the encoding specificity principle
, and the assumption that memory traces are usually complex with various kinds of information. In 1985 Geiselman, Fisher and their colleagues MacKinnon and Holland further showed that the cognitive interview had ecological validity
by having participants watch videos of simulated violent crimes. The original concept of the cognitive interview was revised in 1987 by Fisher, Geiselman and their colleagues. The revisions to the original cognitive interview incorporated the idea of structuring the interview to be more compatible with how the brain retrieves memories. The revised version of the cognitive interview showed an increase of 45 percent in correct information retrieved. In 1992, Fisher and Geiselman wrote a training manual for investigative services on how conduct a cognitive interview. The techniques they developed are widely used today by a variety of investigative services such as police departments, private investigators, and attorneys.
information, as well as a reconstructive nature. The reconstructive nature of human memory can be demonstrated through the use of schema
s; a memory blueprint that provides insight and guidance as to what one might expect from certain events. As a consequence, a witness may incorrectly recall and subsequently report the events of a crime because they are reporting what their schema of a crime is, as opposed to what actually transpired. It has also demonstrated that the recall of information from memory is influenced by the strategies used to gain access to that information. This information has since been integrated in the field of forgetting
in eyewitness testimonies.
theories: the encoding specificity principle and the multi-component view of memory. The encoding specificity principle was introduced by Endel Tulving
. This theory states that cues presented at the time of retrieval will be more effective in facilitating recall when the cues have some degree of contextual overlap to cues that were present at the time of encoding. Thus, a retrieval environment that effectively reinstates the original environment should enhance memory. This demonstrates that an eyewitness will remember most about an event when there is maximal overlap between the context in which the crime
was witnessed and the context in which the recall attempt is made. Based on this principle, when an interviewer is conducting the interview he or she will receive better results using the first two retrieval rules if they are able to encourage the participant to recreate an overall environment similar to that of the event the participant had witnessed. For example, the interviewer could encourage the witness to recreate their mental state (scared, stressed, anxious) at the time of the crime during the interview. Past research has demonstrated that memories that have been encoded during a high, emotionally aroused state may be accessible only if the same affect is reinstated during retrieval.
The last two retrieval rules are based on the multi-component view of memory which maintains that memory trace is not a unitary, holistic
representation of the original event, but rather it is a complex array of many features. As a consequence, information about an event can be retrieved using a number of different routes; each of which might provide information about rather different aspects of the original event. This demonstrates that there are multiple approaches in which memories can be retrieved. For example, if the witness is having difficulty remembering a specific aspect of the crime, the interviewer could show them a snapshot from the crime scene or inform them about which door the suspect entered through. Having the interviewer present the new stimuli (verbally or visually) may activate a new pathway in the memory of the witness. As a result, the witness may recall new information about the crime.
.
Each of the four retrieval rules were tested and proved to be useful in the interview process.
aspects to the interview setting and procedure, which adds a further increase in recall from the original version. The enhanced version also includes several general principles for improving communication between the interviewer and the participant. These recommendations include minimizing any distraction
s, allowing for a pause between the response and the next question, as well as tailoring the language used to suit the eyewitness. These recommendations allow the interviewer to provide an environment that allows for increased context reinstatement from the participant.
for carrying out the remainder of the interview. The interviewer will then guide the witness through several information-rich memory representations, after which the interviewer will assess the witness’ recollections. The completion of this last step is followed by the completion of the interview. The interview is formally ended, but with a suggestion that will prolong its functional life. According to Willis, although two-hour interviews are possible the optimal length for a cognitive interview is about an hour.
Ultimately, when performing a cognitive interview it is important to develop a rapport
and trust between the interviewer and eyewitness to obtain the necessary information. This relationship is integral when conducting a cognitive interview as interrogation
tactics often found in standard police interviews are not used.
or batteries
where eyewitnesses are more likely to be present.
s or photo arrays. Cognitive interviewing can impair an eyewitness's ability to accurately identify a face in comparison to a standard police interview. Though this problem can be resolved by implementing a short delay of as little as 30 minutes, if interviewers are unaware of the need for a delay, the impairment caused by cognitive interviewing strategies could potentially damage essential evidence, as well as contribute to eyewitness misidentification
.
. This means that the witness alters their story or response in a way that they feel makes their answer more acceptable in the eyes of the interviewer as well as society.
ren, these modifications are not equally effective across all pre-adolescent age groups. Research has demonstrated that the cognitive interview is more successful with older children than with younger children. Studies have shown that younger children have more difficulty adhering to the more advanced components of the cognitive interview. This difficulty could be due to developmental
reasons. Another study showed that cognitive interviewing proved to significantly increase the amount of correct information recalled in a group of 7 to 9 year olds, however, this group's amount of confabulation also increased.
levels. In the first experiment 229 children ages 4–5 and 8-9, participated in a painting session. Afterward they were interviewed with one of the six interview protocols
: A full CI, four modified versions of the CI, or a structured interview
(SI). The children were then asked misleading questions. Results showed that the full CI and the variations of the CI elicited more correct details than the SI, without association in errors or confabulations, misrepresentation of events. In the second experiment 57 children were tested with a cognitive interview without the change order
instruction (CO). The omission of the CO reduced children’s suggestibility level. Results confirmed the effectiveness of this protocol. Moreover, children who were tested using the CI and its four modifications, reported more correct information than children interviewed with the SI at any age. Furthermore, a study done by Geiselman and his fellow researchers found that the CI noticeably reduced the negative effects of leading questions but only when the witnesses were previously interviewed with a CI. This is referred to the Geiselman effect. Investigations have found that children interviewed with the CI show significant reductions in false responses to misleading questions, reducing suggestibility. Thus, the CI reduces suggestibility if administered before the suggestive interview.
of what they witnessed while conversing, which proved to be as effective as asking witnesses to mentally reinstate context. Moreover, the researchers found that witnesses produced fewer confabulations when sketch was used which led to the belief that the witness’s used their own cues to help them remember rather than relying on the interviewer to direct them towards relevant cues. Therefore, cognitive retrieval is effective in enhancing eyewitness memory retrieval in the police interview. Moreover, according to Tulving and Thomson’s encoding specificity principle, context reinstatement increases the availability of memory-stored information and studies have found the connection between the role played by the CI and this principle. Another study sought out to compare the effectiveness of three interview procedures for optimizing witness memory performance. The cognitive interview, hypnosis
interview and standard police interview were used. The results found that both cognitive and hypnosis interviews elicited significantly greater numbers of correct items of information than the standard police interview throughout all instances of the study. The results of the cognitive interview closely replicate those obtained by Geiselman et al. (1984), in which participants were interviewed about a classroom intrusion using a structured questionnaire. Again, more correct items of information were generated with the cognitive interview than with the control interview, and without an increase in the number of incorrect items. Thus, the cognitive interview is capable of enhancing eyewitness memory performance both under conditions of experimental control as well as under conditions of high ecological validity.
, as well as more likely to come into contact with law enforcement
. Studies have confirmed that older adults benefit even more from the CI than younger adults in providing precise details of an incident. These benefits in more correct details seen in older adult witnesses are reliable with the environmental support hypothesis, which predicts that older adults rely more on and make more effective use of, external support at the time of remembering due to reduced cognitive resources that are needed to initiate their own retrieval strategies.
Witness
A witness is someone who has firsthand knowledge about an event, or in the criminal justice systems usually a crime, through his or her senses and can help certify important considerations about the crime or event. A witness who has seen the event first hand is known as an eyewitness...
and victims report what they remember from a crime scene
Crime scene
A crime scene is a location where an illegal act took place, and comprises the area from which most of the physical evidence is retrieved by trained law enforcement personnel, crime scene investigators or in rare circumstances, forensic scientists....
. Using four retrievals, the primary focus of the cognitive interview is to make witnesses and victims of a situation aware of all the events that transpired. The CI aids in minimizing misinterpretation together with uncertainty that is otherwise seen in the questioning process of a standard police interview. Cognitive interview reliably enhances the process of memory
Memory
In psychology, memory is an organism's ability to store, retain, and recall information and experiences. Traditional studies of memory began in the fields of philosophy, including techniques of artificially enhancing memory....
retrieval and has been found to elicit memories without generating inaccurate accounts of information or confabulations. Becoming increasingly popular with use in police investigations, training programs and a manual have been devised on how to properly conduct a cognitive interview.
History
In 1975, the RAND Corporation completed a study on criminal-investigations. The study found that the testimonyTestimony
In law and in religion, testimony is a solemn attestation as to the truth of a matter. All testimonies should be well thought out and truthful. It was the custom in Ancient Rome for the men to place their right hand on a Bible when taking an oath...
of an eyewitness was an important determinant in whether the case was solved or not. However, it has been found that many eyewitness reports were unreliable as they could be incomplete, partially constructed and vulnerable to suggestions during the interviewing process. Studies have shown that interviewing techniques such as asking leading question
Leading question
In common law systems that rely on testimony by witnesses, a leading question or suggestive interrogation is a question that suggests the answer or contains the information the examiner is looking for. For example, this question is leading:...
s and closed-ended questions can influence the responses given by the interviewee. Many of the techniques were explored by Elizabeth Loftus
Elizabeth Loftus
Elizabeth F. Loftus is an American psychologist and expert on human memory. She has conducted extensive research on the misinformation effect and the nature of false memories. Loftus has been recognized throughout the world for her work, receiving numerous awards and honorary degrees...
, a researcher who studied eyewitness testimonies, the misinformation effect
Misinformation effect
The misinformation effect refers to the finding that exposure to misleading information presented between the encoding of an event and its subsequent recall causes impairment in memory. This effect occurs when participants' recall of an event they witnessed is altered by introducing misleading...
, and false memories.
Cognitive interviews were developed in 1984 by researchers Geiselman, Fisher and their colleagues in response to the ineffective police interviewing techniques used in the past. Their goal was to suggest methods that increased the accuracies of eyewitness testimony. They found that when participants were trained in memory retrieval techniques, the participants recalled more correct information about an event that occurred on a questionnaire
Questionnaire
A questionnaire is a research instrument consisting of a series of questions and other prompts for the purpose of gathering information from respondents. Although they are often designed for statistical analysis of the responses, this is not always the case...
. They based the techniques on four general memory retrieval rules based on the encoding specificity principle
Encoding specificity principle
The encoding specificity principle provides a framework for understanding how contextual information affects memory and recall. The principle, proposed by researchers Thompson and Tulving, states that memory is most effective when information available at encoding is also present at retrieval...
, and the assumption that memory traces are usually complex with various kinds of information. In 1985 Geiselman, Fisher and their colleagues MacKinnon and Holland further showed that the cognitive interview had ecological validity
Ecological validity
Ecological validity is a form of validity in a research study. For a research study to possess ecological validity, the methods, materials and setting of the study must approximate the real-life situation that is under investigation. Unlike internal and external validity, ecological validity is not...
by having participants watch videos of simulated violent crimes. The original concept of the cognitive interview was revised in 1987 by Fisher, Geiselman and their colleagues. The revisions to the original cognitive interview incorporated the idea of structuring the interview to be more compatible with how the brain retrieves memories. The revised version of the cognitive interview showed an increase of 45 percent in correct information retrieved. In 1992, Fisher and Geiselman wrote a training manual for investigative services on how conduct a cognitive interview. The techniques they developed are widely used today by a variety of investigative services such as police departments, private investigators, and attorneys.
Memory Retrieval
The foundation for the creation of the cognitive interview was rooted in several well researched facts about human memory. Research has shown that memory deteriorates over time. This indicates that the more time that passes between initial encoding and subsequent retrieval the less likely accurate recall will be. This could be a potential issue during a cognitive interview if a large amount of time has elapsed between witnessing the crime and subsequently conducting the interview. It has also been demonstrated that human memory has a limited capacity for storingStorage (memory)
Storage in human memory is one of three core process of memory, along with Recall and Encoding. It refers to the retention of information, which has been achieved through the encoding process, in brain for prolonged period of time until it is accessed by the recall process...
information, as well as a reconstructive nature. The reconstructive nature of human memory can be demonstrated through the use of schema
Schema
The word schema comes from the Greek word "σχήμα" , which means shape, or more generally, plan. The plural is "σχήματα"...
s; a memory blueprint that provides insight and guidance as to what one might expect from certain events. As a consequence, a witness may incorrectly recall and subsequently report the events of a crime because they are reporting what their schema of a crime is, as opposed to what actually transpired. It has also demonstrated that the recall of information from memory is influenced by the strategies used to gain access to that information. This information has since been integrated in the field of forgetting
Forgetting
Forgetting refers to apparent loss of information already encoded and stored in an individual's long term memory. It is a spontaneous or gradual process in which old memories are unable to be recalled from memory storage. It is subject to delicately balanced optimization that ensures that...
in eyewitness testimonies.
Theoretical Background
The foundations of the cognitive interview are rooted in two cognitiveCognition
In science, cognition refers to mental processes. These processes include attention, remembering, producing and understanding language, solving problems, and making decisions. Cognition is studied in various disciplines such as psychology, philosophy, linguistics, and computer science...
theories: the encoding specificity principle and the multi-component view of memory. The encoding specificity principle was introduced by Endel Tulving
Endel Tulving
Endel Tulving is an experimental psychologist and cognitive neuroscientist whose research on human memory has influenced generations of psychological scientists, neuroscientists, and clinicians...
. This theory states that cues presented at the time of retrieval will be more effective in facilitating recall when the cues have some degree of contextual overlap to cues that were present at the time of encoding. Thus, a retrieval environment that effectively reinstates the original environment should enhance memory. This demonstrates that an eyewitness will remember most about an event when there is maximal overlap between the context in which the crime
Crime
Crime is the breach of rules or laws for which some governing authority can ultimately prescribe a conviction...
was witnessed and the context in which the recall attempt is made. Based on this principle, when an interviewer is conducting the interview he or she will receive better results using the first two retrieval rules if they are able to encourage the participant to recreate an overall environment similar to that of the event the participant had witnessed. For example, the interviewer could encourage the witness to recreate their mental state (scared, stressed, anxious) at the time of the crime during the interview. Past research has demonstrated that memories that have been encoded during a high, emotionally aroused state may be accessible only if the same affect is reinstated during retrieval.
The last two retrieval rules are based on the multi-component view of memory which maintains that memory trace is not a unitary, holistic
Holism
Holism is the idea that all the properties of a given system cannot be determined or explained by its component parts alone...
representation of the original event, but rather it is a complex array of many features. As a consequence, information about an event can be retrieved using a number of different routes; each of which might provide information about rather different aspects of the original event. This demonstrates that there are multiple approaches in which memories can be retrieved. For example, if the witness is having difficulty remembering a specific aspect of the crime, the interviewer could show them a snapshot from the crime scene or inform them about which door the suspect entered through. Having the interviewer present the new stimuli (verbally or visually) may activate a new pathway in the memory of the witness. As a result, the witness may recall new information about the crime.
Retrieval Rules
The use of the cognitive interview is based on four memory retrieval rules and several supplementary techniques. These rules are referred to as mnemoicsMnemonic
A mnemonic , or mnemonic device, is any learning technique that aids memory. To improve long term memory, mnemonic systems are used to make memorization easier. Commonly encountered mnemonics are often verbal, such as a very short poem or a special word used to help a person remember something,...
.
- Mental Reinstatement of Environmental and Personal Contexts: The participant is asked to mentally revisit the to-be-remembered (TBR) event. The interviewer may ask them to form a mental pictureMental imageA mental image is an experience that, on most occasions, significantly resembles the experience of perceiving some object, event, or scene, but occurs when the relevant object, event, or scene is not actually present to the senses...
of the environment in which they witnessed the event. This picture could include the placement of objects such as windows or furniture, the lighting, or even the temperature. The participant is also asked to revisit their personal mental stateMental state* In psychology, mental state is an indication of a person's mental health**Mental status examination, a structured way of observing and describing a patient's current state of mind...
during the event and then describe it in detail. The purpose of this process is to increase the feature overlap between initial witnessing and subsequent retrieval contexts. - In-depth Reporting: The interviewer encourages the reporting of every detail, regardless of how peripheral it may seem to the main incident. This step is important for two reasons. First, the participant may only initially report what information they assume to be important regardless of the fact that they are unaware of what information will have value. Second, recalling partial details may lead to subsequent recall of additional relevant information.
- Describing the TBR Event in Several Orders: The participant creates a narrativeNarrativeA narrative is a constructive format that describes a sequence of non-fictional or fictional events. The word derives from the Latin verb narrare, "to recount", and is related to the adjective gnarus, "knowing" or "skilled"...
of the TBR event. He or she is then prompted to start the narrative from a point that is different than their initial starting point. This process may provide a new perspective of the event which subsequently provides an opportunity for new information to be recalled. - Reporting the TBR Event from Different Perspectives: The participant is asked to report the event from several different perspectives; like that of another witness or even a participant. If the participant witnessed a robbery, the interviewer may ask ‘What do you think the cashier saw?’ and then ask for the participant’s perspective.
- Supplementary Techniques: These techniques are used to elicit specific items from the narrative that the participant provides about what they witnessed. These techniques are questions posed to the interviewee that may jog their memory for details such as physical appearance (‘Did the intruder remind you of anyone you know?’), objects (‘Did they appear to be heavy to carry?’), or speech characteristics (‘Were any unusual words or foreign words used?’).
Each of the four retrieval rules were tested and proved to be useful in the interview process.
The Enhanced Cognitive Interview
The enhanced version of the cognitive interview contains the same four retrieval rules as the original. The enhanced CI includes more socialSocial
The term social refers to a characteristic of living organisms...
aspects to the interview setting and procedure, which adds a further increase in recall from the original version. The enhanced version also includes several general principles for improving communication between the interviewer and the participant. These recommendations include minimizing any distraction
Distraction
Distraction is the divided attention of an individual or group from the chosen object of attention onto the source of distraction. Distraction is caused by: the lack of ability to pay attention; lack of interest in the object of attention; or the great intensity, novelty or attractiveness of...
s, allowing for a pause between the response and the next question, as well as tailoring the language used to suit the eyewitness. These recommendations allow the interviewer to provide an environment that allows for increased context reinstatement from the participant.
Process
The cognitive interview is carried out in a series of several steps. First, an introduction is made which establishes a relationship between the witness and the interviewer. At this point the interviewer introduces the four retrieval rules to the witness and asks him or her to use these techniques. The interviewer then gives the witness an opportunity to provide an uninterrupted narration of what they saw. During this time, the interviewer is able to construct a strategyStrategy
Strategy, a word of military origin, refers to a plan of action designed to achieve a particular goal. In military usage strategy is distinct from tactics, which are concerned with the conduct of an engagement, while strategy is concerned with how different engagements are linked...
for carrying out the remainder of the interview. The interviewer will then guide the witness through several information-rich memory representations, after which the interviewer will assess the witness’ recollections. The completion of this last step is followed by the completion of the interview. The interview is formally ended, but with a suggestion that will prolong its functional life. According to Willis, although two-hour interviews are possible the optimal length for a cognitive interview is about an hour.
What Makes an Effective Interviewer
One of the main goals of the interviewer is to maximize memory retrieval from a detailed level of representation and to minimize memory retrieval from the general level. In a study done by Fisher, Geiselman, and Amador several suggestions are provided for the interviewer to use when they feel appropriate in order to maximize memory retrieval.- Based on what is known about the encoding specificity principle, the interviewer should encourage the witness to revisit their state of mindState of MindState of mind is a term meaning "mood" or "outlook" . It can also mean:-Music:*State of Mind , New Zealand drum and bass duo*A State of Mind , American punk band*State of Mind , 2003...
at the time of the event. The interviewer would encourage that the witness think about any external factors (e.g., weather), emotionEmotionEmotion is a complex psychophysiological experience of an individual's state of mind as interacting with biochemical and environmental influences. In humans, emotion fundamentally involves "physiological arousal, expressive behaviors, and conscious experience." Emotion is associated with mood,...
al factors (e.g., feelings of fear), and cognitive factors (e.g., relevant thoughts) that were present. - The interviewer should make every effort to assist the witness to remain in a state of focused concentration because if there is any disruption, the retrieval process will be impaired.
- To encourage the witnesses’ participation, the interviewer should use open-ended questionOpen-ended questionA closed-ended question is a form of question which can normally be answered using a simple "yes" or "no", a specific simple piece of information, or a selection from multiple choices.Examples include:*Question: Do you know your weight?Answer: Yes....
s. - The series of events witnessed will be stored differently for each participant. The effective interviewer makes every effort to tailor the interview to each witness. Interviewers should be flexible and alter their approach to meet the needs of each witness rather than use a rigid, uniform style of questioning thereby forcing witnesses to adjust their mental representationMental representationA representation, in philosophy of mind, cognitive psychology, neuroscience, and cognitive science, is a hypothetical internal cognitive symbol that represents external reality, or else a mental process that makes use of such a symbol; "a formal system for making explicit certain entities or types...
s to the interviewer's questioning.
Limitations
Though cognitive interviews have been shown to yield many positive results, this technique is not without its limitations. The most commonly cited problem regarding cognitive interviews is that they are more difficult to perform than standard police interviews. Cognitive interviews (CI) are more difficult to conduct than standard interviews (SI) in several ways.- The CI takes longer to conduct than a standard police interview.
- The CI requires significantly higher levels of mental concentration from the interviewer.
- Cognitive interviews are only usefully with cooperative eyewitnesses.
Ultimately, when performing a cognitive interview it is important to develop a rapport
Rapport
Rapport is a term used to describe, in common terms, the relationship of two or more people who are in sync or on the same wavelength because they feel similar and/or relate well to each other....
and trust between the interviewer and eyewitness to obtain the necessary information. This relationship is integral when conducting a cognitive interview as interrogation
Interrogation
Interrogation is interviewing as commonly employed by officers of the police, military, and Intelligence agencies with the goal of extracting a confession or obtaining information. Subjects of interrogation are often the suspects, victims, or witnesses of a crime...
tactics often found in standard police interviews are not used.
Limitations with Eyewitnesses
The usefulness of cognitive interviews depends upon the presence of eyewitnesses at the scene of a crime. If there are no eyewitnesses or bystanders present during a crime, the use in performing a cognitive interview becomes limited to non-existent. Cognitive interviews are most effective in situations such as robberiesRobbery
Robbery is the crime of taking or attempting to take something of value by force or threat of force or by putting the victim in fear. At common law, robbery is defined as taking the property of another, with the intent to permanently deprive the person of that property, by means of force or fear....
or batteries
Battery (crime)
Battery is a criminal offense involving unlawful physical contact, distinct from assault which is the fear of such contact.In the United States, criminal battery, or simply battery, is the use of force against another, resulting in harmful or offensive contact...
where eyewitnesses are more likely to be present.
Limitations with Line-Up Recognition
Research has also demonstrated that cognitive interviews are not generally effective as a form of memory-enhancement with regards to the recognition of suspects in police lineupPolice lineup
A police lineup or identity parade is a process by which a crime victim or witness's putative identification of a suspect is confirmed to a level that can count as evidence at trial....
s or photo arrays. Cognitive interviewing can impair an eyewitness's ability to accurately identify a face in comparison to a standard police interview. Though this problem can be resolved by implementing a short delay of as little as 30 minutes, if interviewers are unaware of the need for a delay, the impairment caused by cognitive interviewing strategies could potentially damage essential evidence, as well as contribute to eyewitness misidentification
Mistaken identity
Mistaken identity is a defense in criminal law which claims the actual innocence of the criminal defendant, and attempts to undermine evidence of guilt by asserting that any eyewitness to the crime incorrectly thought that they saw the defendant, when in fact the person seen by the witness was...
.
Limitations with Accurate Information
Although cognitive interviews aim to increase the amount of information reported from an eyewitness, implementing this method of memory-enhancement does not necessarily guarantee accurate information. During the interview process it is not uncommon for an interviewee to succumb to a social desirability biasSocial desirability bias
Social desirability bias is the tendency of respondents to answer questions in a manner that will be viewed favorably by others. It can take the form of over-reporting good behavior or under-reporting bad behavior. The tendency poses a serious problem with conducting research with self-reports,...
. This means that the witness alters their story or response in a way that they feel makes their answer more acceptable in the eyes of the interviewer as well as society.
Limitations with Children
Despite the fact that cognitive interviewing methods have been modified for use with childChild
Biologically, a child is generally a human between the stages of birth and puberty. Some vernacular definitions of a child include the fetus, as being an unborn child. The legal definition of "child" generally refers to a minor, otherwise known as a person younger than the age of majority...
ren, these modifications are not equally effective across all pre-adolescent age groups. Research has demonstrated that the cognitive interview is more successful with older children than with younger children. Studies have shown that younger children have more difficulty adhering to the more advanced components of the cognitive interview. This difficulty could be due to developmental
Child development
Child development stages describe theoretical milestones of child development. Many stage models of development have been proposed, used as working concepts and in some cases asserted as nativist theories....
reasons. Another study showed that cognitive interviewing proved to significantly increase the amount of correct information recalled in a group of 7 to 9 year olds, however, this group's amount of confabulation also increased.
Effectiveness
Despite the few limitations that may arise, cognitive interviewing as a whole has been a successful and consistent method of eliciting accurate memory recall both in interviewers and witnesses of a crime. Another advantage of the cognitive interview aside from its success in enhanced recall is that it can be learned and applied with a minimal amount of training. Several studies of the cognitive interview have provided results that support the effectiveness of this relatively new method of interviewing. The cognitive interview has proven to be a beneficial method for memory enhancement in police officers, children, adults and older adults when recalling the events of a mishap or crime.Police and Interviewing
It has been demonstrated that cognitive interviews have clear advantages over traditional police interviews. Field tests have shown that police officers trained in cognitive interviewing benefit from gathering more detailed information from witnesses in investigative scenes. Notably, interviewer’s memories are also enhanced through the interviewing process. One particular study showed that 25-35% more information (which the study also deemed accurate) is extracted when using cognitive interviews compared to standard police interviews.Children and the Cognitive Interview
Child participants have been able to provide interviewers with concrete responses, which have proven to be both correct and detailed when given a cognitive interview. Researchers have recently reported that cognitive interviewing leads children to report detailed information that is particularly relevant to police investigations. The children demonstrate correct recall of the criminal, the crime, as well as objects and location in comparison to a controlled police interview. In one study, a modified version of the cognitive interview was deduced to ensure children fully understood the instructions of the interview as well as the questions they were being asked. They were taught to put themselves in another person’s perspective. For example, “Put yourself in the body of _________ and tell me what that person saw,”. The children were made aware that they could use “I don’t know” as a response. The MCI versions were found to be effective in children. Two additional studies were conducted to examine the effectiveness of the instructions used in both the cognitive interviews and of a new mnemonic, the ‘cued recall’ (CR), on children’s recall and suggestibilitySuggestibility
Suggestibility is the quality of being inclined to accept and act on the suggestions of others.A person experiencing intense emotions tends to be more receptive to ideas and therefore more suggestible. Generally, suggestibility decreases as age increases...
levels. In the first experiment 229 children ages 4–5 and 8-9, participated in a painting session. Afterward they were interviewed with one of the six interview protocols
Protocol (natural sciences)
In the natural sciences a protocol is a predefined written procedural method in the design and implementation of experiments. Protocols are written whenever it is desirable to standardize a laboratory method to ensure successful replication of results by others in the same laboratory or by other...
: A full CI, four modified versions of the CI, or a structured interview
Structured interview
A structured interview is a quantitative research method commonly employed in survey research. The aim of this approach is to ensure that each interview is presented with exactly the same questions in the same order...
(SI). The children were then asked misleading questions. Results showed that the full CI and the variations of the CI elicited more correct details than the SI, without association in errors or confabulations, misrepresentation of events. In the second experiment 57 children were tested with a cognitive interview without the change order
Change order
In project management, a change order is a component of the change management process whereby changes in the Scope of Work agreed to by the Owner, Contractor and Architect are implemented....
instruction (CO). The omission of the CO reduced children’s suggestibility level. Results confirmed the effectiveness of this protocol. Moreover, children who were tested using the CI and its four modifications, reported more correct information than children interviewed with the SI at any age. Furthermore, a study done by Geiselman and his fellow researchers found that the CI noticeably reduced the negative effects of leading questions but only when the witnesses were previously interviewed with a CI. This is referred to the Geiselman effect. Investigations have found that children interviewed with the CI show significant reductions in false responses to misleading questions, reducing suggestibility. Thus, the CI reduces suggestibility if administered before the suggestive interview.
Adults and the Cognitive Interview
Research involving adults and the use of the cognitive interview have found that there is a significant increase in correct recall of details using the CI than other types of interviews with fewer incorrect details supported. In one successful study, witnesses were asked to draw a detailed sketchSketch
Sketch may refer to:Drawing and other visual arts* Sketch , a drawing or other composition that is not intended as a finished work, but a preliminary exploration.* SketchUp, a 3D modeling program.* iSketch, an online drawing game....
of what they witnessed while conversing, which proved to be as effective as asking witnesses to mentally reinstate context. Moreover, the researchers found that witnesses produced fewer confabulations when sketch was used which led to the belief that the witness’s used their own cues to help them remember rather than relying on the interviewer to direct them towards relevant cues. Therefore, cognitive retrieval is effective in enhancing eyewitness memory retrieval in the police interview. Moreover, according to Tulving and Thomson’s encoding specificity principle, context reinstatement increases the availability of memory-stored information and studies have found the connection between the role played by the CI and this principle. Another study sought out to compare the effectiveness of three interview procedures for optimizing witness memory performance. The cognitive interview, hypnosis
Hypnosis
Hypnosis is "a trance state characterized by extreme suggestibility, relaxation and heightened imagination."It is a mental state or imaginative role-enactment . It is usually induced by a procedure known as a hypnotic induction, which is commonly composed of a long series of preliminary...
interview and standard police interview were used. The results found that both cognitive and hypnosis interviews elicited significantly greater numbers of correct items of information than the standard police interview throughout all instances of the study. The results of the cognitive interview closely replicate those obtained by Geiselman et al. (1984), in which participants were interviewed about a classroom intrusion using a structured questionnaire. Again, more correct items of information were generated with the cognitive interview than with the control interview, and without an increase in the number of incorrect items. Thus, the cognitive interview is capable of enhancing eyewitness memory performance both under conditions of experimental control as well as under conditions of high ecological validity.
Older Adults and the Cognitive Interview
It is important to address the cognitive interview and senior citizens. Seniors are more likely to be active and engaged in the communityCommunity
The term community has two distinct meanings:*a group of interacting people, possibly living in close proximity, and often refers to a group that shares some common values, and is attributed with social cohesion within a shared geographical location, generally in social units larger than a household...
, as well as more likely to come into contact with law enforcement
Law enforcement
Law enforcement broadly refers to any system by which some members of society act in an organized manner to promote adherence to the law by discovering and punishing persons who violate the rules and norms governing that society...
. Studies have confirmed that older adults benefit even more from the CI than younger adults in providing precise details of an incident. These benefits in more correct details seen in older adult witnesses are reliable with the environmental support hypothesis, which predicts that older adults rely more on and make more effective use of, external support at the time of remembering due to reduced cognitive resources that are needed to initiate their own retrieval strategies.