Enhancing the recall of young, young-old and old-old adults with cognitive interviews

Two studies examined whether a Cognitive Interview improves older witnesses' recall. Study I compared the quality and quantity of older adults' recall when given a typical UK police interview, the Enhanced Cognitive Interview (ECI), or a modified version of the Cognitive Interview (MCI). The MCI was identical to the ECI except that the change perspective technique was omitted. Old-old (7595-years) adults' recall was less complete and less accurate than that of young-old (60-74-years) adults, which was less complete and accurate than that of young (17-31-years) adults. The ECI and MCI increased the number of correct Person, Action, Object and Surrounding details reported across every age group, without increasing the number of incorrect or confabulated details recalled. In Study 2, it was found that these effects remained when interviews were re-scored using a system that reflected police officers' decisions about the investigative relevance of details.