The cognitive interview uses four general retrieval methods appropriate for most interview situations plus additional techniques that are suitable for retrieving specific kinds of information. Two of the general retrieval methods attempt to increase the feature overlap between the memory record for the event and the memory retrieval aid, while the other two encourage using many retrieval paths. The results of these experiments showed that cognitive interview techniques significantly increased the number of correct pieces of information recalled by children who served as witnesses and participants in live, staged events. The study also showed that most children will benefit from practice interviewing about an irrelevant event before receiving a cognitive interview about the event of legal importance. The second experiment, which used a larger sample, showed that older children recalled more correct information than younger children regardless of interview type and that a greater number of rapport development exchanges occurred during interviews with younger children than with older children. 5 tables, 59 references, and 3 appendixes