The Cognitive Interview and Lie Detection: a New Magnifying Glass for Sherlock Holmes?

The observation of serious deficiencies in the traditional police interview led Geiselman and colleagues to develop an alternative method of questioning. This method is known as the cognitive interview. The CI starts from the premise that the witness, victim or suspect wishes to cooperate. But, what happens if this is not the case? More seriously, what happens if he/she lies? The main aim of this study is to examine the differences between true and false statements, as a function of the interview technique employed (CI/STI). Participants were 73 students of the University of La Laguna. A 2×2 factorial design with the following variables was used: type of interview [traditional interview used in Spain by the Police (STI) and cognitive (CI)] and type of statement (true and false). The hypothesis was that the true and false accounts of witnesses would be qualitatively and quantitatively different independent of the type of interview used (STI/CI). Results confirmed the hypothesis. © 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.