The Cognitive Interview (CI) has been shown repeatedly to enhance witness recall of events. The current study examined two conspicuous holes in the CI literature: (a) whether the CI improves witness descriptions specifically of a perpetrator's appearance; and (b) whether CI-elicited perpetrator descriptions help investigators to find the perpetrator. We examined these issues across three studies: In Experiment 1, 67 college students witnessed a simulated robbery and were then interviewed using either the CI or a standard police interview (SI) to elicit a description of the robber. The CI elicited almost three times as many descriptors, and at comparable levels of accuracy. These descriptions were then given to 387 college students (Experiment 2 and 3) and to 71 police officers (Experiment 3), who attempted to find the perpetrator (among a group of suspect photographs). The CI-elicited descriptors increased the rate of finding the perpetrator by almost 30% for both student and police investigators, who did not differ from one another. This study is the first to find that the CI can be properly used by police in a criminal investigation. Investigating the actual perpetrator as opposed to an innocent suspect is likely to have implications for subsequent phases of an investigation, such as increasing the base rate of including perpetrators in lineups. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

中文翻译：

---

认知访谈的调查工具：描述和寻找犯罪者。

反复进行认知访谈（CI）可以增强证人对事件的回忆。当前的研究检查了CI文献中两个明显的漏洞：（a）CI是否改善了证人对犯罪者外貌的特别描述；（b）CI引诱的犯罪者描述是否有助于调查人员找到犯罪者。我们在三项研究中研究了这些问题：在实验1中，有67名大学生目睹了一次模拟的抢劫，然后使用CI或标准警察访谈（SI）进行了访谈，以描述强盗。CI引出的描述符几乎是其三倍，准确度相当。然后向387名大学生（实验2和3）和71名警察（实验3）进行了这些描述，试图找到肇事者的人（在一组可疑照片中）。CI引发的描述符将学生和警察调查员的犯罪者发现率提高了将近30％，他们之间没有什么不同。这项研究是第一个发现CI可以被警察适当地用于刑事调查的研究。调查实际犯罪者而不是无辜嫌疑人，可能会对随后的调查阶段产生影响，例如提高将犯罪者纳入阵容的基本比率。（PsycINFO数据库记录（c）2019 APA，保留所有权利）。这项研究是第一个发现CI可以被警察适当地用于刑事调查的研究。调查实际犯罪者而不是无辜嫌疑人，可能会对随后的调查阶段产生影响，例如提高将犯罪者纳入阵容的基本比率。（PsycINFO数据库记录（c）2019 APA，保留所有权利）。这项研究是第一个发现CI可以被警察适当地用于刑事调查的研究。调查实际犯罪者而不是无辜嫌疑人，可能会对随后的调查阶段产生影响，例如提高将犯罪者纳入阵容的基本比率。（PsycINFO数据库记录（c）2019 APA，保留所有权利）。