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Criminal Psychology

Memon and Higham (1999) review of the cognitive interview: findings, conclusions and evaluation

  • 3 things to know
  • Component 03

Overview

Recall questions on the cognitive interview components Memon and Higham found most beneficial, structured interviews as a control, gains in correct recall and errors, interviewer training, reporting memory performance, their conclusion, and the strengths and weaknesses of the review.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Your recallNot started
Key term

Why does interviewer training matter so much to the evidence base?

Evaluation

State the overall conclusion of the review.

Who and when

Which components did the review identify as carrying most of the benefit?

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 1

    Which components did the review identify as carrying most of the benefit?

    Model answer

    Mental reinstatement of context and report everything.

  2. 2

    What is a structured interview, and why is it a fairer control condition than a standard police interview?

    Model answer

    A structured interview contains the same rapport and communication elements without the cognitive techniques, so any advantage the cognitive interview shows can be attributed to those techniques rather than to better social skills.

  3. 3

    By roughly how much does the cognitive interview increase correct recall compared with a control interview?

    Model answer

    By around a third more correct details.

  4. 4

    What happens to errors when the cognitive interview is used?

    Model answer

    There is often a small increase in incorrect details as well, so the overall proportion of the account that is accurate tends to be similar.

  5. 5

    Why does interviewer training matter so much to the evidence base?

    Model answer

    Training in published studies is often brief and varies greatly in length, feedback and quality, so the interview is frequently not delivered as intended and studies cannot be fairly compared.

  6. 6

    What did the review argue about how memory performance should be reported?

    Model answer

    Both the quantity of information recalled and its accuracy should be reported, because an interview that produces more details is not better if a greater share of them are wrong.

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