When interviewing witnesses to a crime, police interviewers seek to

Question

When interviewing witnesses to a crime, police
interviewers seek to maximize the amount of
information that a cooperating eyewitness can give
them so that they can generate leads to follow, confirm
  (5)   or disconfirm alibis, and so forth. One method for
eliciting information over and above what a
cooperative witness might otherwise provide is the
cognitive interview.

Developed by psychologists and adopted by
  (10)   police forces around the world, the cognitive interview
combines cognitive techniques known to improve recall,
such as multiple retrieval attempts, with communication
strategies developed by social psychologists, such as
conversation-management skills and techniques for
  (15)   building rapport between interviewer and interviewee.
The general consensus is that this package has proven
successful in increasing the number of details recalled
by witnesses, with little impact on the number of
incorrect details reported (neither increasing nor
  (20)   decreasing overall accuracy). However, a problem
associated with the cognitive interview is that it is a
complex procedure, requiring substantial training to
learn and a long time to conduct. Because of this
complexity, not all officers receive this training, and
  (25)   even trained officers often deviate from the pro-
cedures specified in the cognitive interview training.

An alternative to the cognitive interview is
hypnosis. Indeed, hypnotic investigative interviewing
was a precursor to the cognitive interview. However,
  (30)   even though the techniques involved are much less
complex, the evidence suggests that overall accuracy,
as determined by the proportion of correct to incorrect
responses, is not generally improved with hypnosis; in
fact, sometimes it may deteriorate. Hypnosis may also
  (35)   give rise to a “false confidence” effect, whereby
witnesses are more confident in their reports generally,
including reports of incorrect information. There are
other practical difficulties, most notably that not all
witnesses are susceptible to hypnosis.

(40)   For police interviewers, the ideal method for
eliciting additional information from an eyewitness
would be one that requires no special training for the
interviewer, that can be applied to the entire population
of potential witnesses, and that has a positive effect on
  (45)   correct memory reports, with no corresponding
increase in false details reported. Research suggests
that such a method may in fact be available.
Encouraging eyewitnesses to close their eyes during
recall attempts is a technique that is common to both
  (50)   hypnosis and the cognitive interview. Recent studies
demonstrate that instructed eye-closure can benefit
recall for both visual and auditory materials, for events
witnessed on video, and for events witnessed through
live interactions. These studies indicate an improvement
  (55)   over hypnotic interviewing, with no problems of
participant dropout because of lack of hypnotic
susceptibility. More significantly, instructed eye-closure
by itself appears to improve witness recall to a degree
equivalent to that demonstrated by the cognitive interview.
  (60)   And the benefits of eye-closure are achieved
with no increase in errors, no specialist training, and
no greater complexity of interviewing technique.    1 
 1. Which one of the following most accurately expresses "the main point of the passage?

(A) For police interviewers, the ideal interview procedure would be one that is simple to apply, universally applicable, and reliably successful at eliciting accurate information.
(B) Interviewing witnesses is a crucial component of law enforcement, but all existing interview procedures require some trade-off between reliability and practicality.
(C) Instructing witnesses to close their eyes during memory-recall tasks is a technique common to both hypnosis and the cognitive interview.
(D) Though difficult to implement on a large scale, the cognitive interview is the most effective procedure police officers can use when questioning an eyewitness.
(E) Instructed eye-closure improves witness recall without sacrificing practicality or reliability, making it an ideal interview technique for police interviewers.

2 
 2. According to the passage, each of the following is true of the instructed eye-closure technique EXCEPT:

(A) It requires less training than the cognitive interview.
(B) Studies have shown that it can benefit recall for events witnessed on video.
(C) It does not lead to an increase in erroneous memory reports.
(D) It may give rise to a "false confidence" effect.
(E) It is common to both hypnotic interviewing and the cognitive interview.

3 
 3. The author refers to "alibis" (first sentence of the passage) primarily in order to

(A) highlight a positive contribution made by psychological research
(B) exemplify the kind of information police interviewers seek to elicit from suspects
(C) point to a use to which an effective interview procedure might be put
(D) contrast the concerns of police officers with those of psychologists
(E) illustrate the complexity of the cognitive interview

4 
 4. The author would be most likely to agree with which one of the following statements?

(A) There is reason to worry that the cognitive interview is less effective if police
interviewers deviate from the procedures specified in the training.
(B) An interviewer's success at eliciting valuable information from a witness derives largely from the interviewer's ability to establish a rapport with the witness.
(C) Though it suffers from significant drawbacks, hypnotic interviewing has an advantage over other investigative interviewing procedures in that its effective use requires essentially no training.
(D) When interviewing witnesses, police interviewers may need to use different techniques depending on whether the desired information is visual or auditory in nature.
(E) An increase in the complexity of an interview procedure will usually result in a decrease in the reliability of the information obtained.

5 
 5. It can be inferred from the passage that the use of hypnotic interviewing most likely has which one of the following conseque nces?

(A) Interviews yield more inaccurate information than accurate information.
(B) Interviewers are overly confident that complex interview procedures have been followed correctly.
(C) Interviewers are not able to detect attempts by a witness to intentionally deceive the interviewer.
(D) Interviewers are not able to accurately assess the reliability of a witness's memory reports by asking the witness how sure he or she is concerning those reports.
(E) Interviewees become less susceptible to hypnosis over the course of the interview process, resulting in a steady decrease in the amount of information they are able to provide.

6 
 6. Which one of the following describes a relationship that is most analogous to the one that holds between the cognitive interview and instructed eye-closure, as described in the passage?

(A) Studies show that individuals who frequently engage in light exercise enjoy significant health benefits, but equivalent health benefits are enjoyed by those who engage in more strenuous exercise on a less frequent basis.
(B) Reduced consumption of saturated fat combined with an increased consumption of fiber has been shown to produce significant health benefits, but equivalent health benefits have been produced by an increase in fiber consumption alone.
(C) Consumption of moderate amounts of caffeine has been linked to positive health benefits, but excessive caffeine consumption has been shown to elevate blood pressure.
(D) Research has shown that a new vitamin supplement can produce dramatic benefits in women, but data is inconclusive regarding men.
(E) Studies suggest that diet and exercise produce observable health benefits, but less significant benefits can be achieved through exercise alone.

7 
 7. The author would be most likely to agree with which one of the following statements?

(A) If all witnesses were susceptible to hypnosis, hypnotic interviewing would be the best procedure for maximizing the amount of accurate information obtained from
cooperative witnesses.
(B) Even if police forces had the time and resources to train all of their officers in the cognitive interview, the complexity of the procedure would still pose problems for its use.
(C) Instructed eye-closure should be adopted as an investigative interviewing technique only if police forces lack the resources required to implement the cognitive interview.
(D) Interview procedures that are easy to learn are likely to yield a greater amount of accurate information than interview procedures that are more difficult to learn.
(E) The more information a cooperative witness provides when interviewed, the more likely it is that the witness is experiencing a "false confidence" effect.

Sajjad1994 · Answer

Explanation

1. Which one of the following most accurately expresses "the main point of the passage?

Explanation

Step 1: Identify the Question Type

The question asks for the  “main point”  of the entire passage, making this a Global question.

Step 2: Research the Relevant Text

As Global questions ask about the entire passage, everything is relevant. Instead of going back into the details, use the Main Idea as predicted while reading the passage.

Step 3: Make a Prediction

The author’s main point comes at the end: While the cognitive interview and hypnosis are problematic, simply telling witnesses to close their eyes offers an ideal way for police to get the details they want.

Step 4: Evaluate the Answer Choices

(E)  is correct. It doesn’t mention the problematic methods of the cognitive interview and hypnosis. However, it doesn’t need to. It focuses on the ultimate point about eye-closure being the ideal solution to getting more information from witnesses.

(A)  is too narrow. It does a nice job of summarizing the ideal described at the beginning of the last paragraph. However, it fails to mention that such an ideal may exist: having witnesses close their eyes.

(B)  is a 180. In the last paragraph, it’s suggested that having witnesses close their eyes can work without requiring any such trade-off between reliability and practicality.

(C)  is too narrow. While the author does say that instructed eye-closure exists in the cognitive interview and hypnosis  (lines 48–50) , this misses the point that having witnesses close their eyes can be an ideal method for getting information.

(D)  is a 180. By the end, the author is pushing eye closure, not the cognitive interview. In fact, the author claims that having witnesses close their eyes can be just as effective as the cognitive interview  (lines 57–60).

Answer: E

Sajjad1994 · Answer

Explanation

6. Which one of the following describes a relationship that is most analogous to the one that holds between the cognitive interview and instructed eye-closure, as described in the passage?

Explanation

Step 1: Identify the Question Type

The question asks for a relationship  “most analogous”  to one presented in the passage. That makes this a Parallel Reasoning question, similar to those found in the Logical Reasoning section.

Step 2: Research the Relevant Text

Any relationship between the cognitive interview process and the eye-closure technique will be in the third paragraph. And that happens in  lines 48–50.

Step 3: Make a Prediction

In lines 48–50, the author claims that the eye-closure technique is actually part of the cognitive interview process. While the cognitive interview process surely involves a lot more (it is described as complex), closing one’s eyes is still part of it. So the relationship is that one technique is actually part of the other, more involved technique. The correct answer will describe two other concepts with the same relationship: one being part of the other.

Step 4: Evaluate the Answer Choices

(B)  is correct. This describes two effective methods for producing health benefits, and one (increasing fiber) is part of the other (increasing fiber and reducing fat).

(A)  does not match. This describes two methods that are opposite one another: one that involves light exercise and one that involves strenuous exercise.

(C)  does not match. This describes two completely different methods that produce two different results (moderate caffeine is healthy, while excessive caffeine is not).

(D)  does not match. It only provides one approach (taking a new vitamin supplement) and shows a different effect on two separate groups (men versus women).

(E)  does not match. This does provide one method (exercise alone) that is part of the other (diet and exercise). However, the exercise alone is said to be less effective here, while the eye-closure alone was said to be equally effective  (lines 57–60)  in the passage.

Answer: B

Shrey1 · Answer

4. The author would be most likely to agree with which one of the following statements?

(A) There is reason to worry that the cognitive interview is less effective if police
interviewers deviate from the procedures specified in the training.
(B) An interviewer's success at eliciting valuable information from a witness derives largely from the interviewer's ability to establish a rapport with the witness.
(C) Though it suffers from significant drawbacks, hypnotic interviewing has an advantage over other investigative interviewing procedures in that its effective use requires essentially no training.
(D) When interviewing witnesses, police interviewers may need to use different techniques depending on whether the desired information is visual or auditory in nature.
(E) An increase in the complexity of an interview procedure will usually result in a decrease in the reliability of the information obtained.

A - directly quoted in the last line of the second paragraph. "Because of this complexity, not all officers receive this training, and even trained officers often deviate from the procedures specified in the cognitive interview training." Interviewers deviating from the procedure is the reason to worry about cognitive interviews.

(B) is Extreme. Building rapport is said to be part of the cognitive interview process (lines 13–15). However, success is not said to be largely derived from this ability. In fact, the potentially equally successful method of eye closure is not said to require any sort of rapport.

(C) is Out of Scope. The only benefit of hypnosis mentioned in the passage is in lines 30–31 (it’s not as complex as the cognitive interview). No mention is made of how much training might be required to perform hypnosis.

(D) is a 180. Lines 50–54 suggest that the eye-closure technique can be effective for both auditory and visual information. There would be no need to use multiple techniques.

(E) is not supported. While complexity is a drawback of the cognitive interview, there’s no suggestion that complexity affects the accuracy. In fact, the author even claims that the cognitive interview does not affect accuracy (lines 19–20).

Shrey1 · Answer

5. It can be inferred from the passage that the use of hypnotic interviewing most likely has which one of the following consequences?

(A) Interviews yield more inaccurate information than accurate information.
(B) Interviewers are overly confident that complex interview procedures have been followed correctly.
(C) Interviewers are not able to detect attempts by a witness to intentionally deceive the interviewer.
(D) Interviewers are not able to accurately assess the reliability of a witness's memory reports by asking the witness how sure he or she is concerning those reports.
(E) Interviewees become less susceptible to hypnosis over the course of the interview process, resulting in a steady decrease in the amount of information they are able to provide.

Step 2: Identify the Question Type
The question asks for something that can be “inferred from the passage,” making this an Inference question.

Step 3: Research the Relevant Text
The question asks about potential consequences of hypnosis, which are laid out in lines 31–39 in the third paragraph.

Step 4: Make a Prediction
According to the third paragraph, accuracy is not improved with hypnosis and may actually deteriorate. Also, it can create
“false confidence” (i.e., witnesses appear more confident, even when their information is wrong). The correct answer will
be consistent with this drop in accuracy or increased confidence in false information.

Step 5: Evaluate the Answer Choices
(D) is correct. When witness have “false confidence,” they will be confident about their responses, even when they’re wrong.

That means confidence will not be a reliable indicator of
accuracy.
(A) is a Distortion. This confuses percentages and numbers. By lines 31–34, the proportion (or percentage) of accurate responses may go down. However, that could be from 80 percent accurate to 60 percent accurate. A lower percentage, but still more accurate than inaccurate.

(B) is a Distortion of a couple of facts. First, it’s the witnesses that get overconfident, not the interviewers. Second, it’s the cognitive interview that’s described as complex, not hypnosis.

(C) is Out of Scope. There is no mention made about witnesses intentionally trying to deceive the interviewer, or the ability of interviewers to detect such deception.

(E) is a Distortion. The author does mention that some witnesses may not be susceptible to hypnosis (lines 38–39), but there is no suggestion that people become less susceptible over time, or that such susceptibility leads to a drop in information provided.

Shrey1 · Answer

3. The author refers to "alibis" (first sentence of the passage) primarily in order to

(A) highlight a positive contribution made by psychological research
(B) exemplify the kind of information police interviewers seek to elicit from suspects
(C) point to a use to which an effective interview procedure might be put
(D) contrast the concerns of police officers with those of psychologists
(E) illustrate the complexity of the cognitive interview

Logic Function
Step 2: Identify the Question Type
The phrase “in order to” indicates the question is asking why the author mentions alibis, making this a Logic Function
question.

Step 3: Research the Relevant Text
The question directs you to the first sentence. Given that the scope changes in the next sentence, the first sentence alone
should be sufficient for answering this question.

Step 4: Make a Prediction
The first sentence introduces the goal of interviewing witnesses: get more information. This information can be used to confirm or dismiss alibis. Thus, the mention of alibis is meant to show a benefit the police gain from the information gathered during the interview process.

Step 5: Evaluate the Answer Choices
(C) is correct. Confirming or denying alibis is mentioned as a use for the information gathered in an interview.

(A) is a Faulty Use of Detail. Psychologists and research are not mentioned until later paragraphs, and not in any direct connection to evaluating alibis.

(B) is Out of Scope. The police are trying to elicit information from witnesses that could be used to confirm or deny alibis. They are not seeking to elicit the alibis themselves from the suspects.

(D) is a Distortion. Psychologists are not mentioned until the second paragraph, and the author never tries to contrast their concerns with those of the police.

(E) is a Faulty Use of Detail. The cognitive interview is not mentioned in the first sentence, and the reasons for its complexity are not brought up until halfway through the second paragraph. And even then, alibis have nothing to do with the complexity.

When interviewing witnesses to a crime, police interviewers seek to

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When interviewing witnesses to a crime, police interviewers seek to

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