Cost and benefit of a new instruction for the cognitive interview: the open depth instruction

Abstract

The quality and the quantity of information recalled by eyewitnesses during a criminal investigation is of crucial importance. To increase the volume of details recalled during an interview, the cognitive interview recommends using various retrieval strategies to enhance recall. We tested a new retrieval instruction, the open depth (OD) instruction. The efficacy of this new instruction was assessed with the number of unit of information and the accuracy rate. We also assessed the cost-and-benefit of this new instruction with measures of repetition. Students watched a video of a simulated robbery and participated later in face-to-face interviews. In Study 1 (N 060), the cognitive interview using the OD instruction increased recall compared to the interview using the change of perspective (CP) instruction, without affecting the accuracy rate. The redundancy rate was higher with the OD instruction than with the CP instruction. In Study 2 (N 040), the OD instruction generated more new information without affecting the accuracy rate than the interview using motivated recall (MR) instruction. The repeated information to new information ratio was lower with the OD instruction than with the MR instruction. The advantages of the OD instruction for investigative interviewing purposes are discussed.

“Tell me more about this…”: An examination of the efficacy of follow‐up open questions following an initial account

“…Research on the benefits of the CI for recall has mostly focused on the effectiveness of the different mnemonics rather than on the use of prompts following an initial narrative (e.g. Brunel, Py, & Launay, 2013;Colomb & Ginet, 2012;Memon, Wark, Bull, & Koehnken, 1997;Paulo, Albuquerque, & Bull, 2013). Similar to the use of cues, asking follow-up questions can also further prompt interviewees to search through their memory (Fisher & Geiselman, 2010).…”

Improving the Enhanced Cognitive Interview With a New Interview Strategy: Category Clustering Recall

“…For instance, Davis, McMahon, and Greenwood (2005) compared the change order and change perspective mnemonics with free recall attempts and found no advantage of both ECI mnemonics in comparison with free recall tasks. Brunel, Py, and Launay (2013) found that using the open depth instruction (asking participants to focus their attention on the small details while recalling the event once again) instead of the change perspective mnemonic allowed the interviewer to obtain more information. Dando, Ormerod, Wilcock, and Milne (2011) found that recalling in reverse order might be less effective in comparison with another free recall regarding the number and accuracy of recalled units of information.…”

Questioning the acceptability of the Cognitive Interview to improve its use

“…In this study, contrary to Vrij et al (2008), the change of order instruction did not allow an increase in discrimination between truthful and fallacious narrations. In the same way, Launay, Py and Brunel (2011) showed that one could increase discrimination between truthful and fallacious narrations (with the use of CBCA criteria) with a second recall using an open-depth instruction (Brunel et al, 2012). Finally, Vrij et al (2010) showed that the use of drawing (a technique recommended by Dando, Wilkock and Milne, 2009, in place of the mental reinstatement during the CI) allowed 80% of truthful narrations and 87% of fallacious narrations to be correctly categorized.…”

“…Knowing that the perception of time is relative, one can question the perception of the CI from the interviewer's point of view. Recently, Brunel, Py and Launay (2012) proposed new indicators which aim at measuring the costs and benefits associated with various free recalls within the CI by testing divers instructions. They measured the proportion of repeated information obtained during additional free recalls.…”

“…One proposition worth testing would be to formalize an intermediate phase before the exhaustive narration of the facts, which will allow the investigator to know more precisely the type of case and immediately assess the ratio cost and benefit of using a CI (see Brunel et al, 2012, for a discussion about the notion of ratio cost and benefit during a CI). Such an early phase could also be compatible with witnesses of an emotionally charged event: witnesses who often seem driven by the urge to talk, which hinders the concentration needed to mentally reinstate the context of the critical event.…”