Cognitive Interview (CI)
Definition
An evidence-based interview technique developed by Fisher and Geiselman that uses memory-enhancement strategies including mental reinstatement of context, free recall, temporal variation, and perspective change to maximise the accuracy and quantity of information retrieved from cooperative witnesses.
- Developed by
- Fisher and Geiselman (1984)
- Core purpose
- Maximize accuracy and quantity of witness information through memory-enhancement strategies
- Accuracy gain vs. standard questioning
- 25-45 percent more accurate information in adult samples
Common questions
What is a cognitive interview and when is it used?+
A cognitive interview is a structured technique for questioning witnesses that uses memory-enhancement strategies to get more accurate and complete information. It's applied during cooperative witness interviews to maximize recall quality, especially with adults and vulnerable witnesses.
What are the main techniques used in a cognitive interview?+
The four core techniques are mental context reinstatement (mentally recreating the scene), complete reporting (recalling everything without filtering), reverse temporal order (going backward through events), and perspective change (describing what others saw or heard). These work together to bypass normal memory filters.
How much more effective is a cognitive interview than regular questioning?+
Studies show cognitive interviews produce 25 to 45 percent more accurate information compared to standard questioning methods in adult samples. The gains come from the structured memory strategies that unlock detail people wouldn't normally report.
Related terms
- Achieving Best Evidence (ABE)
- UK guidance (most recent revision 2022) on interviewing vulnerable witnesses including children. Embedded within the YJCEA 1999 special measures framework; ABE interviews...
- Acquiescence Bias
- The tendency to agree with questions regardless of their content, elevated in young children and persons with intellectual disabilities. A major source...
- Encoding Specificity
- Tulving's principle that memory retrieval is most effective when the retrieval context matches the encoding context. Mental reinstatement of context is a...
- Free Recall
- The CI phase in which a witness reports everything they can remember without interruption or directing questions from the interviewer, producing a...
- Intermediary
- A communication specialist (YJCEA 1999 s 29) who attends an ABE interview and trial to ensure that questions are put to vulnerable...
- Interrogative Suggestibility
- The measurable tendency of an individual to accept misleading suggestions and change responses under pressure, assessed by the Gudjonsson Suggestibility Scales (GSS-1,...
- Mental Reinstatement of Context
- A CI technique in which the witness is asked to mentally return to the setting of the event, imagining what they saw,...
- Misinformation Effect
- The incorporation of misleading post-event information into the original memory trace, documented by Loftus and Palmer (1974) and subsequent studies. Distinguished from...
- NICHD Protocol
- A structured child investigative interview protocol developed by Michael Lamb and colleagues, with an extended rapport and narrative-practice phase followed by a...
- PEACE
- Preparation and Planning, Engage and Explain, Account, Closure, Evaluation: the five-stage interview framework adopted in England and Wales from 1992, used for...
- POCSO § 35
- The Indian Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act 2012 provision requiring Special Courts to record a child's evidence within 30 days...
- Special Measures (YJCEA 1999)
- Provisions under the Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act 1999 allowing vulnerable witnesses (including all children in sexual or violent cases) to...
Explained in these topics
- Investigative Interviewing of Children and Vulnerable WitnessesA structured adult witness interview technique developed by Fisher and Geiselman (1984) using mental context reinstatement, complete reporting, reverse tempora...
- The PEACE Model, the Cognitive Interview, and Investigative LinguisticsAn evidence-based interview technique developed by Fisher and Geiselman that uses memory-enhancement strategies including mental reinstatement of context, free...