1. Cognitive Interview
technique to encourage information
recall
Fisher & Combined findings
Geiselman (1992) from research into
memory with the
traditional interview
style

2. Cognitive Interview Standard Interview
Encourages witness to recreate Witnesses are bombarded with
the original context using open brief questions to elicit facts
questions
Based on the idea that there are Witnesses are frequently
many retrieval paths to each interrupted which can break
memory concentration
Retrieval cues improve memory Closed questions
recall
Interview technique should Answers are usually short
maximise the amount of
recalled detail
Witness is given time to recall Interview technique doesn’t
maximise recall

3. Cognitive interview techniques - 1
Context Instruct the witness to mentally return to
Reinstatement the place of the event
Recall the environment and emotional
context, preceding events
Why would this help improve memory recall?
May provide the witness with retrieval cues to help
access memory of the event

4. Cognitive interview techniques - 2
Report Everything Instruct the witness to recall the
maximum amount of information
possible, even if it seem trivial
Why would this help improve memory recall?
What might seem irrelevant to the witness might not
be to the investigation, irrelevant details might also
serve as a retrieval cue and prompt further recall

5. Cognitive interview techniques - 3
Change Instruct the witness to try to recount the
Perspective scene from the perspective of someone
else involved
Why would this help improve memory recall?
Might result in the witness recalling a piece of
information via a different recall route

6. Cognitive interview techniques - 4
Reverse Order Instruct the witness to recount the scene
in a different chronological order
Why would this help improve memory recall?
Might result in the witness recalling a piece of
information via a different recall route

7. Conduct your own Cognitive
The Cognitive Interview works on 2 principles
Interview
1. Witnesses need time and encouragement to recall
information & so the CI improves accuracy
2. Retrieval cues enhance memory recall (Tulving &
Thompson – Encoding Specificity Principle ESP)
ESP
You recall things better if the retrieval context is the same or
similar to the encoding context.
If you learn and recall in the same or similar surroundings then
you should remember more than if they were in different
settings

8. Cognitive Interview - evaluation
CI enhances recall Milne & Bull (2002) found
that all 4 techniques used
singularly produced
more recall from
CI has positive
witnesses than a
applications to real life standard interview
This is positive because it means that the memory
recall of witnesses can be improved by using 4 simple
techniques as part of the interview process

9. Cognitive Interview - evaluation
Evidence for ESP Godden & Baddeley
(1975)
asked divers to learn a word
list either on land or 15feet
Further support for the under water – recall was
success of the cognitive 30% better when in the
interview
same context as the learning.
This is positive as it supports the concept behind CI
instruction in that memory is significantly improved
when encoding and recall are in the same or similar
environments

10. Cognitive Interview - evaluation
CI doesn’t improve
recall in all cases Geiselman (1999)
reviewed a number of cases
and found that in children
under the age of 6, recall of
Possibly due to the
event was slightly less
complex instructions accurate
This is problematic because it shows that CI is not the
best method to enhance recall in all cases, questioning
whether the EWT from children should be used in
court

11. Cognitive Interview - evaluation
Ethical Issues For example, someone who
witnessed a particularly
violent murder or sexual
Participants and witnesses assault might find going
should be protected from through the event in such
undue harm during interview detail too traumatic
This is a weakness as part of the cognitive interview
process participants may be asked to recall traumatic
events that could cause distress