Effects of the cognitive interview on the recall of familiar and unfamiliar events

Abstract

Thirty experienced blood donors and 30 nondonors were shown a videotape of a blood donation event. They were later questioned about the event in either a cognitive interview or a structured interview. Results show that interviewees in the cognitive-interview condition recalled significantly more correct and incorrect information as compared with interviewees in the structured interview, whereas no overall differences were found between the familiarity conditions. Analyses with regard to script-inconsistent and omitted script-consistent and relevant details revealed that blood donors produced significantly more intrusion errors as compared with nondonors. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)