Educing Information: Interrogation - National Intelligence University

Cognitive Events
Cognitive factors comprise the suspect’s thoughts, interpretations,
assumptions, and perceived strategies of responding to the interrogative
situation. 234 According to Gudjonsson, it is important to remember that the
suspect’s behavior during the interrogation is likely to be more influenced by
his or her perceptions, interpretations, and assumptions about what is happening
than by the actual behavior of the police/interrogators. 235 One possible cognitive
antecedent to a confession occurs when the suspect perceives the evidence against
him as being strong; he is more likely to confess if he believes there is no point
in denying the offense. 236 Another possible cognitive factor involves suspects’
“talking themselves into confessing” if they believe the interrogator will not relent
until he has obtained a confession, or if they believe that the police have sufficient
evidence to prove that they committed the offense. 237 An innocent person’s faith
that the truth will eventually come out through the criminal justice system can
also facilitate a (false) confession. 238 Finally, innocent suspects who begin to
doubt their own recollection of events in the face of pressing interrogation may
eventually yield to the suggestions of the interrogator and come to believe that
they committed the crime. 239
The immediate cognitive consequences of confessing may relate to thoughts
associated with the easing of the pressure. 240 For some suspects, especially
innocent ones, the belief that their legal representative will sort everything out
may predominate. 241 On the other hand, suspects who mistakenly accept guilt
because of confusion about their recollection and acceptance of the interrogator’s
suggestions may come to wonder how they could have committed such a deed
and have no recollection of it. 242 Eventually, after their confusion subsides, they
may again become fully convinced that they had nothing to do with the crime to
which they previously confessed. 243
Situational Events
These factors are potentially infinite. As Gudjonsson points out, “the
circumstances of the suspect’s arrest (e.g., being arrested suddenly in the early
hours of the morning) may affect the suspect’s ability to cope with the subsequent
interrogation.” 244 Similarly, the time and conditions of confinement prior to
interrogation may affect the subject’s performance: “being locked up in a police
cell for several hours or days may ‘soften up’ subjects (i.e., weaken their resistance)
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