Six separate experiments were conducted to investigate the effects of specific retrieval procedures on recall, recognition, confidence and the confidence / accuracy relationship for these retrieval domains. In experiment I the effects of retrieval procedures were considered as part of a recognised police interview technique, the Cognitive Interview (CI), while in experiments 11,111, and IV the retrieval procedures involved discrete context manipulations. Experiments V and VI focused exclusively on the confidence / accuracy relationship for recall as a function of specific retrieval procedures and question type. Results indicated that although frequently improving the quality and quantity of recall, the Cl and other types of context reinstatement manipulation did not reliably improve recognition accuracy from lineup presentations, nor did they have a significant moderating effect upon the confidence / accuracy relationship. However in experiment TV in which a long (three month) delay was utilised significant effects of context manipulation on recognition performance were found. With regard to confidence, experiment I indicated that the Cl was responsible for a significant increase in confidence of recall but not recognition. Results from experiments II, III, and iv indicated non consistent effects of context manipulation on confidence, rating-q for either recall and recognition. With regard to the confidence / accuracy relationship, results from the initial five experiments indicated that in very few instances was confidence and accuracy significantly related. However, in experiment VI confidence and accuracy was found to be reliably and consistently related The most important finding to emerge from this research suggests the retrieval procedure undergone by a witness (interactive interview / passive questionnaire), to be an important moderator of the confidence / accuracy relationship. As such the results are supportive of Leippe's (1980) two premises in which it is suggested that as reconstructional and social influences increase, the confidence / accuracy relationship will correspondingly decrease

To stem the spread of infectious diseases, epidemiologists use contact tracing interviews to identify individuals who may need treatment or, if indicated, quarantine or isolation. Given the high stakes, the most exhaustive list of potentially infected contacts must be reported. However, standard contact tracing procedures may fail to extract the most complete report possible from sick individuals. One of the most reliable methods for maximizing recall is the Cognitive Interview (CI). The CI uses several techniques grounded in psychological theory and was expected to increase the number of contacts listed during contact tracing interviewing compared to a standard contact tracing interview. In Study One, participants imagined they were infected with meningococcal meningitis, and reported every person with whom they had physical contact, shared saliva, or lived with over the previous three days (i.e., at a high risk for developing meningococcal meningitis). Participants were interviewed with either a CI or a standard interview. Results suggested that the CI generated 35% more total contacts listed, however, when examining only the contacts listed who would be at a high risk of meningococcal meningitis there was no significant difference between the CI and the standard interview. Study Two followed the same procedure as that in Study One, but added a manipulation of cognitive resources intended to model impairment experienced by individuals who are interviewed while suffering from acute illness. Participants completed (or did not complete) a working memory impairment task (pressed a spacebar on a keyboard every time 7 seconds passed) while reporting their physical contacts during either a CI or a standard interview. Results clearly demonstrated a superiority of the CI in generating both more total contacts and more contacts at a risk of meningococcal meningitis than the standard interview. However, when the working memory impairment task was completed, the CI generated no more contacts than the standard interview. Findings have serious implications for contact tracing interviewing for infectious diseases such as Ebola and Zika. In light of the findings, we recommend the CI be considered as an alternative to the typical contact tracing interview, particularly if the interviewee is not cognitively impaired.

The Cognitive Interview (CI) has been shown in over one hundred studies to enhance eyewitness recall. However, no study has explored whether the CI improves police job performance. The current study was the first to test the practical value of the CI in a criminal investigation, testing participants’ performance on key police tasks using either a perpetrator description elicited from a CI or from a standard police interview (SI). In an earlier study, student witnesses were exposed to a simulated robbery and were then interviewed using either a CI or an SI to elicit a description of the robber (comprised of individual descriptors). In Experiment 1, a sample of student participants (N=320) completed two investigative tasks using the descriptors: (a) identifying the perpetrator from a group of ten potential suspect photographs; and (b) allocating hours among the top three potential suspects dictated by who should be the focus of the police’s time (i.e., investigative resources). Participants also subjectively assessed each descriptor’s value in terms of completing the tasks. Presentation methods to enhance the utility of the CI were also tested. Relative to the SI, the CI resulted in a near-30% increase in accurately identifying the perpetrator. Also, significantly more hours were allocated toward investigating the perpetrator using the CI as compared with the SI. Participants did not, however, subjectively value CI descriptors more than SI descriptors; and, the CI’s utility was not enhanced by the presentation methods tested. Experiment 2 sought to reproduce and generalize the CI’s effect on investigative utility by using police officers (N=71) and student participants (N=67). As in Experiment 1, the CI significantly improved investigative performance in accurately identifying the perpetrator, and in allocating resources toward investigating the perpetrator. Police and students did not significantly differ in their performance of investigative tasks or in their utility ratings of the CI descriptors. The current study was the first to find that the CI can be properly used by police in a criminal investigation. Investigating the actual perpetrator as opposed to an innocent suspect is likely to have a domino effect on subsequent phases of an investigation.

The investigative interviewing of eyewitnesses is an important part of the judicial system and is essential in police investigations to identify culpable parties. However, interviewing witnesses to elicit accurate recall is not without some flaws (Ainsworth, 2002). Researchers have acknowledged that recall of information is a complex process vulnerable to variables which impede the retrieval of accurate information (Gudjonsson, 1996; Loftus, 1979; 1992). To improve witness recall, psychologists developed the Cognitive Interview (CI) procedure to help interviewers retrieve more correct information from witnesses (Fisher & Geiselman, 1992). The use of the CI has been shown to increase accuracy in many populations (Memon, Holley, Wark, Bull, & Koehnken, 1996; Milne & Shaw, 1999). However, there are some criticisms of the CI. For example, the CI may cause confusion for witnesses (Kebbell, Milne, & Wagstaff, 1999), takes longer to administer than a standard police interview (Croft, 1995) and contain components which are reported to undermine the effectiveness of this procedure (Boon & Noon, 1994). This research program utilised three studies in a multimethod approach to evaluate investigative interviewing procedures, from an experimental and applied perspective. The overarching aim of this research was to identify a parsimonious, effective and efficient interview procedure which overcame some of the limitations recognized in the CI. The first study employed an experimental methodology to test the effectiveness of the CI and two alternative versions of the CI, to determine which interview procedure resulted in the most correct and least incorrect amounts of information being elicited from student witnesses to a road incident stimulus. Results indicated that the truncated group utilizing mnemonics Tell All and Reinstate Context elicited as much correct and less incorrect information than the ‘Full CI’ group, and took less time to administer. Study Two examined the perceptions of the interview procedure from the witnesses’ perspective. Witnesses were asked to complete a questionnaire which was designed to investigate what the participants thought about how the interview was conducted. Results indicated that, overall, the witnesses found that the interviewers engaged in practices and behaviours at a similar skill level and appreciated the rapport building and clarity of the interviewers. A content analysis revealed that the witnesses favoured some mnemonics over others. The qualitative statements made in regard to questions in the questionnaire are presented. Study Three used a triangulation methodology to determine what the Queensland Police Service officers were currently trained in and practising in the field. Secondary sources, a questionnaire, focus group and case study methodologies were used to make this determination. Findings indicated that there were areas where the police service could improve training of officers to help facilitate interviewing of witnesses. The integration of the findings from the three studies will help to inform the current state of research in the area of investigative interviewing. In particular, this research provides a target examination of interviewing practices in a sub-section of the Queensland Police Service. The findings from the three studies were used to identify an interview procedure which obtained more correct information, did not gain an increase in incorrect information, reduced the time required to conduct the interview, was not confusing for the witnesses, or the officers, and contained no inherent problems for the judicial system. Further recommendations are made for the use of interview protocols for investigative interviewing of road incidents.

L’objectif de cette thèse était de fournir des recommandations aux professionnels de la justice pour recueillir la parole des adolescents, population de témoin peu étudiée en laboratoire. Pour cela, cinq études ont été conduites. Les deux premières avaient pour objectif de dresser un état des lieux des pratiques des enquêteurs français. Nous avons observé une spécificité des adolescents, notamment en ce qui concerne le recours aux suggestions d’informations. Celles-ci étaient plus fréquemment faites lorsque l’adolescent venait de développer un propos, ce qui n’était pas le cas avec des mineurs plus jeunes. Cela pourrait signifier des objectifs d’audition différents selon l’âge du mineur (Étude 1). Pourtant, les recommandations internationales déconseillent fortement l’usage des suggestions en raison des biais mémoriels qu’elles peuvent entrainer immédiatement comme de manière différée. Ensuite, nous avons montré que les adolescents sont les plus représentés parmi les mineurs témoins et/ou victimes dans les affaires françaises et qu’ils sont généralement perçus comme menteurs et pudiques par les enquêteurs (Étude 2). Une étude conduite avec des gendarmes formés aux techniques de recueil de la parole des mineurs témoins (vs. non formés ; Étude 3) a montré que ces utilisations des questions suggestives seraient dues à une croyance des enquêteurs selon laquelle les suggestions pouvaient aider le mineur à se souvenir et à rappeler des informations, mais aussi (et surtout) permettre à l’enquête d’avancer. Ceci était d’autant plus vrai pour les gendarmes non formés. Pour répondre à ces pratiques inappropriées, mais aussi aux besoins des enquêteurs, nous nous sommes intéressés à deux versions modifiées de l’entretien cognitif (ECM). En effet, ce protocole d’audition est basé sur un questionnement ouvert (plutôt que fermé ou suggestif), et propose des stratégies de récupération efficaces. En favorisant la récupération en mémoire et le rappel des informations, il pourrait alors optimiser leur fiabilité, en vue de les exploiter lors de l’enquête judiciaire. Pour cela, nous avons testé la mnémotechnique du Séquençage (Étude 4), qui a montré ses bénéfices. Nous avons en effet observé une hausse du rappel des informations correctes (vs. entretien structuré ; ES). Toutefois, celle-ci s’accompagnait d’une hausse des erreurs. Un résultat similaire a été observé en testant une version raccourcie de l’ECM pour des événements répétés dans le temps (vs. événement unique ; Étude 5). De plus, cette étude a mis en avant une hausse des affabulations avec l’ECM (comparativement à un ES, et indépendamment de la fréquence de l’événement), mais aussi des confusions entre les différents événements visionnés par une partie des adolescents. Ces augmentations des informations erronées n’entrainaient cependant, dans aucune des deux études, de chute du taux d’exactitude. Ces résultats seront discutés au regard de la littérature scientifique, et des recommandations appliquées seront formulées afin d’aider les enquêteurs à conduire au mieux leurs auditions d’adolescents témoins et/ou victimes. / The goal of this thesis was to provide recommendations to any practitioner involved in the justice system to interview adolescent witnesses and/or victims, a population little studied in laboratory analogue contexts. To do so, five studies were conducted. The first two studies were aimed at establishing an inventory of the young French investigators’ witness interview practices. We observed that adolescents are a specific population, in particular regarding the use of suggestive questions. This type of questions increased right after the adolescents had just developed a statement, which was not the case with younger children. This result might reveal that, during investigative interviews with children and adolescents, the investigators have different aims depending on the age of the young witness (Study 1). However, international recommendations strongly discourage the use of suggestions because of immediate and delayed memory biases that may occur. Secondly, we have shown that adolescents represent most of the under legal age witnesses and/or victims in French cases, and that investigators generally perceived them as liars and as easily ashamed (Study 2). A study conducted with military police officers who previously had training in the use of structured interview techniques (vs. untrained officers; Study 3) showed that their use of suggestive questions were related to the belief that suggestive prompts could help the young witness and/or victim retrieve and recall information, but also (and most importantly) allow the investigation to move forward. This was especially observed with untrained military police officers. To deal with these inappropriate practices, we investigated the efficiency of two modified versions of the cognitive interview (MCI). This interview protocol is based on an open (rather than closed or suggestive) questioning style, and proposes effective retrieval strategies. Relying on techniques that promote memory retrieval and recall of information, it could then enhance the adolescents’ statements’ reliability, for these to be used during the investigation. We therefore tested a mnemonic called ‘guided peripheral focus’ (Study 4), which showed its benefits. Indeed, we observed an increase in the recall of correct information (vs. structured interview; SI). However, this was accompanied by an increase in errors. A similar pattern was observed with a shortened version of the MCI (vs. SI) used for repeated events (vs. single event; Study 5). In addition, this last study showed an increase in confabulations with the MCI (compared to a SI, and irrespective of the frequency of the event), but also in confusions between the different events experienced by some of the adolescents. However, these increases in erroneous details did not lead to a drop in the accuracy rate in either study. The results of the five studies will be discussed in regards with the scientific literature, and recommendations to help justice practitioners conduct their adolescent witness and/or victim interviews as appropriately as possible will be provided

The presented diploma thesis presents the method of cognitive interview and describes the possibilities of its use in the preparatory proceedings. The theoretical part defines the interrogation of a witness in the preparatory proceedings and introduces the psychological processes in creating witness statement. In the following chapters, the thesis focuses only on the method of cognitive interview, presents its processs, basic techniqes, but also a comparison with other interrogation methods. The greatest emphasis of the thesis is on the use of cognitive interview with the police and specific groups that participate in the preparatory proceedings. Part of the thesis is also research, which is divided into two parts. Each of them aims to describe the current process of interrogating witnesses and victims in the Czech Republic, to help answer the question of whether it is important to try to implement the method of cognitive interview in the Czech environment. Thanks to the analysis of five interrogation videos and seven interviews with police officers from practice, it was possible to identify some interrogation techniques that are considered effective in the cognitive interview method, but also those that the method recommends not to use. Of the four cognitive interview techniques, which are...

The presented diploma thesis presents the method of cognitive interview and describes the possibilities of its use in the preparatory proceedings. The theoretical part defines the interrogation of a witness in the preparatory proceedings and introduces the psychological processes in creating witness statement. In the following chapters, the thesis focuses only on the method of cognitive interview, presents its processs, basic techniqes, but also a comparison with other interrogation methods. The greatest emphasis of the thesis is on the use of cognitive interview with the police and specific groups that participate in the preparatory proceedings. Part of the thesis is also research, which is divided into two parts. Each of them aims to describe the current process of interrogating witnesses and victims in the Czech Republic, to help answer the question of whether it is important to try to implement the method of cognitive interview in the Czech environment. Thanks to the analysis of five interrogation videos and seven interviews with police officers from practice, it was possible to identify some interrogation techniques that are considered effective in the cognitive interview method, but also those that the method recommends not to use. Of the four cognitive interview techniques, which are...

No description available.

Objective. To use cognitive interviewing techniques to determine faculty and student interpretation of a subset of items from the AACP faculty and graduating student surveys. Methods. Students and faculty were interviewed individually in a private room. The interviewer asked each respondent for his/her interpretation of 15 randomly selected items from the graduating student survey or 20 items from the faculty survey. Results. While many items were interpreted consistently by respondents, the researchers identified several items that were either difficult to interpret or produced differing interpretations. Conclusion. Several interpretational inconsistencies and ambiguities were discovered that could compromise the usefulness of certain survey items.

1 Abstract The present work deals with interviews with the child witnesses and its results in the form of testimony. Mapping the developmental specifics of children relevant in the course of interrogation. We also offer an overview of specific procedures which take account of claims arising from working with this group of witnesses. The main emphasis is put on the method of cognitive interview created by Geiselman and Fisher (1992) and its possible use in children. The practical part is flush pays overview suitability of specific methods - cognitive interview for the purpose of the interview with preschoolers. The second level maps the development specific manifestations of children during the interview follows. By analyzing 20 interviews to identify specifics manifest both in the cognitive area, as well as in social skills and capture their concrete form. The subsequent step were testimonies by children assessed in terms of the methods used. On a given sample but it turned out qualitative and quantitative differences in content of the statement in the respective phases. Using as ideal for obtaining accurate and detailed testimony shows Open-ended narration of phase combination and Phase probing memory codes. Keywords: child witness, interrogation techniques, interrogation of children, cognitive interview