I'm sure you have conducted an interview or interrogation for a couple hours and afterwards you walked out of the room physically and mentally drained! It's not like you were lifting weights or running on a treadmill, so why does an intense interview or interrogation take such a physical and psychological toll on you, and what can you do about it?

We talk to people all day and don't get drained like that. Think about it; at a house party or bar you may spend the same amount of time talking with someone about their vacation, their job or their family and walk away fine, even invigorated at times! Although you were talking for the same amount of time, the cognitive demand placed upon an interviewer during an investigative interview or criminal interrogation is tremendous! What's interesting from a biological perspective is that on a regular basis our brain consumes roughly 25% of our blood glucose, our energy source, and the more stress and mental energy we face the more fuel our brain uses. This is why you get physically and mentally drained during an investigative interview or criminal interrogation!

Take this into consideration next time you are preparing for an interview or interrogation and fuel up your body so your mind stays sharp! Snacking on some brain-healthy foods such as dark chocolate, nuts, blueberries, or avocado, in addition to a little caffeine boost with some coffee or tea, may help feed your brain power. Avoid doughnuts and sugary foods as the boost may be temporary but then then you will likely crash and lose focus easily.

Also, make sure you fuel up your mind and continue to get ongoing training and practice your skills so they become second nature. Doing so will make it one less thing for you to consciously worry about during an interview freeing up more of your cognitive abilities. If your training and skill level is high and you function with "unconscious competence", you won't be consciously worrying about tactics and techniques during your interview and you will be able to more effectively focus on the task at hand...question effectively, listen with forensic intensity and to get the truth!

One of the things I teach within my Cognitive Interviewing courses is how the brain processes and stores information and memories. For example, neuroscience research has discovered that the brain has various sections dedicated for processing and storing specific information related to sight and visual perception such as identifying and storing information about colors, places, spatial information, visual motion, as well as specific areas for identifying and recognizing faces, bodies and body parts. There are also sections specific to sounds with areas of the brain dedicated to sounds with a specific pitch and another area for sounds without clear pitch, and yet another area specific for hearing speech. Check out the TED video below with brain-imaging pioneer Nancy Kanwisher who explains how scientists use fMRI scans to see activity in these and other specific brain regions. As a professional who conducts investigative interviews and criminal interrogations, it's important for you to understand how the brain processes, stores and retrieves information, since a large part of your job is to extract as much accurate and reliable information from the individual as possible. To improve the quantity and quality of information you extract from people during interviews, make sure you thoroughly plan and conduct your interviews with processes and questioning strategies are based upon science and research, as this will increase your odds of success greatly!

One of the things I teach within my Cognitive Interviewing courses is how the brain processes and stores information and memories. For example, neuroscience research has discovered that the brain has various sections dedicated for processing and storing specific information related to sight and visual perception such as identifying and storing information about colors, places, spatial information, visual motion, as well as specific areas for identifying and recognizing faces, bodies and body parts. There are also sections specific to sounds with areas of the brain dedicated to sounds with a specific pitch and another area for sounds without clear pitch, and yet another area specific for hearing speech. Check out the TED video below with brain-imaging pioneer Nancy Kanwisher who explains how scientists use fMRI scans to see activity in these and other specific brain regions. As a professional who conducts investigative interviews and criminal interrogations, it's important for you to understand how the brain processes, stores and retrieves information, since a large part of your job is to extract as much accurate and reliable information from the individual as possible. To improve the quantity and quality of information you extract from people during interviews, make sure you thoroughly plan and conduct your interviews with processes and questioning strategies are based upon science and research, as this will increase your odds of success greatly!

The Lie Boat had its maiden voyage in 2014 with 24 people from from 4 countries. The training course was held on a cruise ship and covered 12 topics relating to lies, lie detection, micro expressions, statement analysis and much more, all focused on helping people reach the TRUTH within any investigative inquiry. Why a cruise ship? Research shows that by making the training more fun, changing the environment and/or delivery, taking people out of the traditional venues, etc. they learn better, retain more information, and are engaged at a deeper level with the training. Plus, who says you can't mix business with pleasure! We had awesome instructors who made this a success...Stan Walters, Maggie Pazian, Ray Bull, James Kline and Dan Jewiss. My thanks to them for sharing their knowledge in such a professional manner!