Interviewing children with the cognitive interview: assessing the reliability of statements based on observed and imagined events

This paper investigated whether criteria stemming from the Reality Monitoring (RM) framework could be trusted to assess the reliability of statements obtained by the use of a cognitive interview (CI). Fifty-eight children, aged 10-11, participated. One-third watched a film about a fakir and were then interviewed according to a CI (n= 19). The remaining two-thirds made up a story about a fakir and were then interviewed according to either a CI (n= 21), or a structured interview (SI) (n= 18). The CI statements based on observed events contained more visual, affective, spatial and temporal information compared to CI statements based on imagined events. The CI statements based on imagined events did not differ from the SI statements based on imagined events. Considerable developmental work is recommended to turn the RM technique to a reliable test that could be used by practitioners.