The cognitive interview: Are the interviewers' memories enhanced, too?

Abstract

Abstract The cognitive interview is a technique which has been developed by Geiselman and Fisher to help police officers interrogating witnesses. Previous research has shown the advantage of the cognitive interview over standard interview procedures. Reports generated with this interview technique comprise an average of 35% more correct information while the amount of incorrect information is usually unaffected. In previous studies, the number of correct and in correct details was counted directly from the transcriptions of the interviewee statements. The present experiment was conducted to investigate the novel idea of whether there would also be an advantage of the cognitive interview when the written accounts/protocols of the interviewers were used to analyse the amount of correct and incorrect information they produced. Interviewes saw a video film showing a blood donation event. One week later they were questioned about the film using either a cognitive or a standard interview. The interviewers prepared from their memory written accounts/protocols of the event. The number of correct, false, and confabulated details was counted from these protocols and from the tape recordings of the interviews. There sults showed when interviewed using the cognitive interview the interviewees recalled, as hypothesized, about 60% more correct information than did those interviewed using standard interviews. This advantage of the cognitive interview was preserved in the interviewer accounts/protocols where about 50% more correct facts were recalled by the interviewers.

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