Cognitive Interview

Read the interview script and consider

the following questions.

1)What is good about the interview?

2)What is bad about the interview?
 Cognitive Interview

Lesson Objectives Lesson Outcomes

We are learning about the Good if you can define
cognitive interview cognitive interview

Even better if you can explain

how the cognitive interview
works

Excellent if you can use

research to evaluate the
cognitive interview
 Cognitive Interview
A01
What is cognitive interview?

Do you think the script you read is a

cognitive interview and why?

This is a police technique for interviewing

witnesses to a crime, which encourages
them to recreate the original context in
order to increase the accessibility of stored
information.
 Cognitive Interview
A01
Why is it important?

• Improving effectiveness of
questioning witnesses in police
interviews
• Apply findings of psychological
findings to this area

Fisher and Geiselman (1992)

Reviewed memory literature –
people remember things better if
they are provided with retrieval
cues.
The technique they devised had 4
components.
 Cognitive Interview
A01
Cognitive Interview: 4 stages
Use page __ to create a storyboard of the different
stages of a cognitive interview.

Leave space as we will be adding to it later!

Be creative as you like – use pictures as a revision aid if

you wish!

2)
1) REPORT REINSTATEMENT 3) CHANGE 4) CHANGE
EVERYTHING OF ORDER PERSPECTIVE
CONTEXT
 Cognitive Interview
A01 Example Questions

Now revisit your storyboard and add in at least 1 example

question for each of the stages in the interview.

Tell me everything
you can remember
from start to finish in
your own words….

Murder in a Pub
 Cognitive Interview
AO3
Evaluation
Using the sentences on your worksheet highlight which are
strengths and weaknesses of this form of cognitive interview (CI)

Milne and Bull (2002)

Kohnken et al (1999)
- meta-analysis of 53 studies
- Found on average a 34% increase
in amount of correct information
generated in CI
Found that when they used a
combination of “report
everything” and “mental
reinstatement”,
participants’ recall was
significantly higher.

BUT BUT
Most of the sample were Still in a laboratory - artificial
university students
 Cognitive Interview
AO3
Individual Differences

Mello and Fisher (1996)

When CI and normal interview techniques
were tested on both older adults’ (72 years)
and younger adults’ (22 years) memory, CI was
better for both.

But was more significantly an advantage for

the elderly.
 Cognitive Interview
AO3
Weaknesses

• Different police forces use different aspects of the CI

technique so it is difficult to evaluate its effectiveness
fully
• The technique takes more time than is often available
• Techniques that limit the eyewitnesses account to the
minimum are often preferred
• Demands are placed on the interviewer to ‘probe’
effectively
• The quantity and quality of CI training is an issue
 Cognitive Interview
AO3
Strengths

• Although cognitive interviewing produces an

increase in ‘false positives’ (recall of additional
items), there is a bigger increase in the
amount of correct information recalled
compared to a standard interview
• The CI is valuable in reducing miscarriages of
justice in countries where these are likely to
occur (e.g. Brazil)
 Cognitive Interview
AO3
Plenary
Discuss the use of the cognitive interview in obtaining evidence
from eyewitnesses (12 marks)
Use one of evaluative points we have discussed to write a PEE
paragraph

Point There has been research to support the effectiveness of the

cognitive interview.

Kohnken et al (1999) found that there was a 34% increase in

Evidence recall when the cognitive interview was used compared to
standard interviewing techniques

This shows that the cognitive interview is a more effective way

Explanation to access memories for an incident than existing methods of
interviewing are
As this is the last lesson of Memory.. Your job
is to:
• Finish any outstanding work in the Social
Influence/Memory topic
• Make sure all homework has been completed
• Ensure all notes are complete and up to date