Cognitive demand
Definition
The mental processing load a text or statement places on the reader or listener. High cognitive demand reduces accurate comprehension, particularly under stress. The Miranda warning creates high cognitive demand through unfamiliar vocabulary, abstract concepts, and the stressful context of arrest.
Related terms
- Comprehension assessment
- In the Miranda context, structured testing of a suspect's understanding of each element of the warning, using instruments such as Grisso's Instruments...
- Custodial interrogation
- Questioning by police of a person who is in custody, meaning their freedom of movement is restrained in a way a reasonable...
- Miranda warning
- The statement of rights that US police must deliver to a suspect before custodial interrogation, required by the Supreme Court's 1966 decision...
- PACE caution
- The rights caution used by police in England and Wales under the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (as amended): 'You do...
- Waiver
- The voluntary, knowing, and intelligent relinquishment of a known right. A valid Miranda waiver requires the suspect to understand the rights and...
Explained in
- Miranda Rights and Comprehension: What Suspects Actually UnderstandThe mental processing load a text or statement places on the reader or listener. High cognitive demand reduces accurate comprehension, particularly under stres...