Field Test of the Cognitive Interview to Enhance Eyewitness and Victim Memory, in Intelligence Investigations of Terrorist Attacks.

Information elicited from witnesses is critical to the fight against terrorism. We trained experienced Israeli intelligence investigators to use the Cognitive Interview (CI) technique to enhance witnesses' reporting in real-world investigations of terrorism (e.g., stabbings). We examined 60 cases in which Jewish and Arab respondents (victims, witnesses, and occasional sources of intelligence information; civilians and soldiers) were interviewed initially with a standard protocol. All respondents were interviewed a second time: 30 with a standard protocol and 30 with a CI. Compared to using a standard protocol on the second interview, the CI elicited more information and also more new information (not already in the first interview), and the CI-elicited new information was rated as being more useful. The current results are compatible with other field studies and suggest that the CI should generalize to other real-world investigations and may be effective in several as-yet-untested contexts (e.g., cold cases, debriefing professionals). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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