Using the cognitive interview with adults with mild learning disabilities

Forty-seven adults with mild learning disabilities (mild intellectual disab ilities) attending day-centres and thirty-eight adults from the general pop ulation viewed a videorecording of an accident. A day later the participant s were interviewed using either a cognitive interview (CI) or a structured interview (SI, a control interview). Compared with their counterparts with learning disabilities, adults from the general population recalled more cor rect information and made fewer confabulations about persons and objects. N evertheless, the type of interview had an impact. For both groups, the CI w as more effective than the SI in enhancing recall although, for the 'learni ng disabilities' group, the CI also produced a disproportionate increase in the reporting of person confabulations. All the same, the accuracy ratios were similar across interview types (80% for the CI and 82% for the SI). It is suggested that the CI could be helpful in assisting people with learnin g disabilities to provide information about events they have seen.