Does the Cognitive Interview Promote the Coherence of Narrative Accounts in Children With and Without an Intellectual Disability?

Abstract

We examined whether the cognitive interview (CI) procedure enhanced the coherence of narrative accounts provided by children with and without intellectual disabilities (ID), matched on chronological age. Children watched a videotaped magic show; one day later, they were interviewed using the CI or a structured interview (SI). Children interviewed using the CI reported more correct details than those interviewed using the SI. Additionally, children interviewed using the CI reported more contextual background details, more logically ordered sequences, more temporal markers, and fewer inconsistencies in their stories than those interviewed using the SI. However, the CI did not increase the number of story grammar elements compared with the SI. Overall children interviewed with the CI told better stories than those interviewed with the SI. This finding provided further support for the effectiveness of the CI with vulnerable witnesses, particularly children with ID.

Keywords:

• child witness
• cognitive interview
• coherency
• intellectual disability
• investigative interviewing
• narrative account
• story grammar
• structured interview

Acknowledgements

The first author wishes to thank Dr Rebecca Milne for her permission to access the transcripts used in this research. This work was completed as a partial requirement for the first author’s degree of Doctor of Psychology (Forensics). There was no research funding for this study, and no restrictions have been imposed on free access to, or publication of, the research data.

Notes

1. Note that non-parametric analyses were performed to confirm results of the parametric analyses. They showed exactly the same pattern of results. Therefore, for ease of interpretation, the results of the parametric analyses are presented.

2. To code for correct event details, an exhaustive list of available details of the magic show was catalogued, with the final coding scheme including 771 units of information. Each piece of information was coded as correct, incorrect, or confabulated. Only correct information was analysed as we were primarily interested in showing that the CI improved children’s recall in the current study. To introduce an appropriate level of sensitivity in our measure, we utilised a weighted system capturing the specificity of the event detail. An example of our coding system is that the phrase “the magician pulled a dove from a scarf” was coded as “magician” = 1 point, “pulled” = 1 point, “dove” = 2 points (“bird” = 1 point), and “scarf” = 1 point. As a matter of interest, this example would be coded as one “direct consequence” within the story grammar framework.