cognitive interview

n. A structured interview for witnesses designed to improve information recall and to reduce cognitive distortions in testimony, which has been found to increase the amount of information recalled without introducing distortions into it. The process includes asking witnesses to recall by reinstating the context, prompting not to hold back any detail no matter how inconsequential it may seem, altering the sequence of recollection, asking witnesses to say what other witnesses could and could not see, and then finally prompting for details.