CFI Cognitive Interview Methods & Memory Enhancement Flashcards
6 cards from real CFI practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.
Read the first 6 CFI Cognitive Interview Methods & Memory Enhancement flashcards as text
The 'encoding specificity principle' relevant to cognitive interviewing states that:
Answer: Memory is best recalled when retrieval conditions match encoding conditions
The encoding specificity principle holds that memory retrieval is most effective when the context at retrieval closely matches the context at encoding.
In forensic interviewing, 'source monitoring errors' occur when a witness:
Answer: Confuses the origin of information (e.g., post-event suggestion vs. actual memory)
Source monitoring errors happen when witnesses misattribute the origin of a memory, such as mistaking something they heard after the event for something they actually witnessed.
Which interviewing approach is MOST consistent with minimizing post-event contamination of witness memory?
Answer: Interviewing witnesses as soon as possible and in isolation from each other
Early, individual interviews minimize the risk of witnesses contaminating each other's memories or incorporating post-event information into their accounts.
A CFI uses the 'rapport-building' phase before memory retrieval primarily because:
Answer: Rapport reduces anxiety and increases the completeness and accuracy of recall
Establishing rapport reduces witness anxiety, which in turn improves memory retrieval by allowing the witness to focus cognitive resources on recall rather than social anxiety.
What is 'confabulation' in the context of forensic witness interviewing?
Answer: Unconscious memory fabrication where the witness fills memory gaps with plausible but inaccurate information
Confabulation is an unconscious process where the brain fills in memory gaps with plausible information without the witness realizing the information is inaccurate.
Which questioning strategy BEST supports accurate memory retrieval in a cognitive interview?
Answer: Open-ended prompts followed by silence to allow free recall
Open-ended prompts (e.g., 'Tell me everything that happened') followed by silence give the witness maximum latitude to retrieve and report memories without interviewer contamination.