Paper 1
Memory
GCSE Psychology
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Key Terms
Key Term Definition
Encoding
Storage
Retrieval
Coding
Capacity
Duration
Declarative
Memory
Non-Declarative
Memory
Time-Stamped
Procedural
Memory
Semantic
Memory
Episodic
Memory
Objective
Reconstructive
Memory
Effort after
Meaning
Interference
Proactive
Interference
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Retroactive
Interference
Context
False Memories
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Processes of Memory: Encoding, Storage and Retrieval
The Memory Process:
Encoding Storage Retrieval
The information is The information is kept The information is
translated into a form in the brain for a located in the brain
so that it can be held in period of time and brought back out.
the brain (possibly a lifetime)
Encoding
Visual Encoding - memories that are stored visually e.g. if an individual was
asked to count the windows in their house, they will probably ‘see’ the house
in their mind.
Acoustic Encoding – memories that are stored based on what they sound like
e.g. an individual’s favourite song is stored so they can hear it when they think
about it
Sematic Encoding – memories are stored in terms of their meaning and
understanding e.g. an individual knows an understands the word elephant and
can use it in a sentence
Other Encoding – tactile encoding is memory for what things feel like and
olfactory encoding is a memory for smells.
Retrieval
Recognition – remembering through identifying e.g. multiple choice questions
or seeing someone and remembering who they are
Cued recall – when you are trying to remember a piece of information and a
‘hint’ allows you to retrieve it e.g. giving you the letter it starts with
Free recall – when you are able to retrieve information without cues
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The Multistore Model of Memory (MSM) AO1
Atkinson and Shiffrin’s (1968) multi-store model describes how information flows through memory.
Eyes
Ears
Attention
• Information/stimuli from the environment is received by the sensory register
• Once an individual pays attention to the information it is moved from the sensory register to the short-term
memory (STM)
• To keep this information in the STM the individual must carry out maintenance rehearsal
• Once prolonged rehearsal occurs (repeating information over time) the information moves from the STM to
the long-term memory (LTM)
• In order to retrieve information is comes from the LTM back to the STM to remember.
You need to know the coding, capacity and duration for each store in the MSM
Key Terms
Coding How information is process so it can be stored
Capacity How much information can be held
Duration How long the information can be held for
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The Sensory Register
Coding – memories are coded in the form appropriate for the sense e.g. memories for the eyes are coded
visually and from the ears coded acoustically.
Capacity – Unlimited
Duration – less than half a second
STM
Coding – Acoustically
Capacity – 7 +/- 2 items (5-9 items)
Duration – less than 30 seconds (unless rehearsed)
LTM
Coding – Semantically
Capacity – Potentially unlimited
Duration – Potentially a lifetime
Multi-Store Model of Memory (AO3)
Research to support the model was conducted by Baddeley (1966) who
conducted a study into the coding of the STM and LTM. He found that
when participants had poor recall when immediately recalled a list of
acoustically similar words compared to acoustically dissimilar words,
suggesting the STM codes acoustically. Participants also had poor recall
when after 20 minutes were asked to recall a list of semantically similar
words compared to a list of semantically dissimilar words, suggesting the
LTM codes semantically. This supports the model because it shows how the
STM and LTM are separate, independent stores
Research into the coding, capacity and duration of the different
memory stores were mostly conducted using lab experiments meaning
they lack ecological validity. The experiments were conducted in an
artificial environment, using artificial tasks of memory such as
remembering a list of words. This make it difficult to generalise the results
to real life settings of memory, lowering the validity of the MSM.
A further weakness of the MSM is that it has been criticised for being
too simplistic. Research has found that the LTM is not just one store and is
separated into further stores: episodic, semantic and procedural. This
suggests memory may be more complex than the MSM originally
proposed.
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The Multi-store Model of Memory: Coding, Capacity and Duration
Sensory Register STM LTM
Coding
Capacity
Duration
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Types of Long-Term Memory
Research has suggested that instead of LTM being one store like the MSM proposes, there are actually three
different types of LTM
KEY TERMS:
Declarative – requires conscious recall
Non-Declarative – does not require conscious recall (unconscious)
Time-Stamped – remember where you first learned them
Procedural Memory
• Procedural memory is a part of the long-term memory is responsible for
knowing how to do things, i.e. memory of motor skills, such as riding a
bike.
• Procedural memories do not involve conscious thought they are non-
declarative
• The area of the brain responsible for procedural long-term memories is the
Cerebellum and Motor Cortex.
Semantic Memory
• Semantic memory is a part of the long-term memory responsible for
storing knowledge about the world. For example, knowledge about the
meaning of words, such as ‘love’, as well as general knowledge such as
facts i.e. London is the capital of England.
• Semantic memories involve conscious thought they are declarative
• Semantic memories are not ‘time stamped’ – we do not usually
remember when and where we first learned/coded the information.
• The brain area responsible for semantic long-term memories is the
Temporal Lobe.
Episodic Memory
• Episodic memory is a part of the long-term memory responsible
for storing information about events (i.e. episodes) that we have
experienced in our lives at a specific time, for example our first
day of school.
• Episodic memories involve conscious thought and they are
declarative.
• Episodic memories are ‘time stamped’ – we remember when
and where we coded/learned these memories.
• The brain area responsible for episodic long-term memories is
the Hippocampus.
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Types of Long-Term Memory (AO3)
Research to support the different types of memory comes from the case
study of Clive Wearing. He suffers from amnesia in which his episodic memory
was damaged as he could not remember some events from his past, for
example his musical education. However, Clive’s procedural memory was still
working as can remember how to play the piano. This supports the idea that
there are different types of long term memory because if only certain parts of
his LTM are damaged, this indicates that they are separate.
However, this research to support can be criticised as it has low population
validity. This is because the research was a case study, using only Clive as a
participant who suffers from an unusual illness involving damage to the brain.
Therefore, it is difficult to generalise the findings of the different types of LTM
to the wider population as their LTM may operate differently, thus limiting the
support that the research provides for the different types of LTM.
However, further research into the types of LTM has been praised for using
scientific methods such as FMRI scans, which are objective techniques that have
been used to show the different types of LTM have different locations in the
brain e.g. episodic memory is in the hippocampus. This increase the validity of
the theory as it provides evidence to support there are different types of LTM.
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Exam Practise
Question 1
Question 2
Question 3
Outline two differences between procedural memory and semantic memory (4 marks)
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Question 4
Outline two differences between episodic memory and semantic memory (4 marks)
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Primacy and Recency Effects in Recall
Key Terms
Serial Position Curve
Serial Position Curve – this is the tendency of people to
recall the first and last words in the list. The position of the
words influences recall
Primacy Effect – when words appear first in the list they are
more likely to be recalled than the words in the middle of the
list. This is because they have been rehearsed well by the
time they are recalled and are now long-term memories.
Recency Effect – words that appear towards the end of the
list are more likely to be recalled because they have been
heard most recently and therefore are still in the short-term
memory
Murdock’s Serial Position Curve Study (AO1)
Aim: To investigate if memory of words was affected by the number of words people had to remember
Sample: 103 students
Method:
• Groups were tested in a number of different sessions
• In each session, the ppts listened to 20 word lists. Each list varied in length from 10 words to 40 words
• After each list they were asked to recall the words.
Results:
• Murdock found that recall was related to the position of the word in the list
• There was higher recall for the first few words in the list than those in the middle (primacy effect)
• There was high recall for the final few words on the list (recency effect)
Conclusion: This is a serial position effect, the position of the word determines the likelihood of recall. Recency
effects are the strongest.
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Murdock’s Study (AO3)
One strength of Murdock’s serial position curve study is that it has high control
over extraneous variables because it was a lab experiment, for example, he
controlled the speed the words were read at and the time between encoding and
recall. This increases the validity of the study into primacy and recency effect
because no other variables were affecting the number of words recalled.
However, as Murdock’s study was conducted in a controlled and artificial
environment, the study lacks ecological validity. This is because it was a lab
experiment with an artificial task of remembering words. This does not reflect
memory in real life and therefore it may be difficult to generalise the results into the
primacy recency effect beyond the setting of the study lowering the validity of
Murdock’s research.
However, Murdock’s research into the serial position curve has high reliability
because it was a lab experiment. As it has high control over extraneous variables and
the use of standardised procedures, it is easy to repeat the study in the same
conditions to see if there are consistent results into the primacy recency effect.
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Exam Practise
Describe Murdock’s serial position curve study. Evaluate the research method used in this study (9 marks)
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Bartlett’s War of the Ghosts Study (Reconstructive Memory)
Key Term
Reconstructive Memory: Memory is an active process (rather than passive), fragments of stored information
are reassembled during recall. The gaps are filled in by our expectations and beliefs so that we can make a
story that makes sense.
AO1
Aim: To investigate how memory for an unfamiliar story is affected by
cultural expectations to see how memory is reconstructed.
Procedure:
• He gave British ppts a Native American Indian Story called ‘The
War of the Ghosts’
• After 15 minutes he asked them to retell the story. This took place
several times.
Results
• Ppts remembered the key themes in the story. However, it was
shorted when retold and ppts missed some information out
• Ppts altered some details of the story to fit with their own cultural
experiences e.g. they changed ‘canoes’ to ‘boats’
Conclusion: Participants had reconstructed the story. How stories are
remembers depends on existing cultural knowledge and past experiences.
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Bartlett’s ‘War of the Ghosts Study’ (AO3)
Bartlett’s study supports the reconstructive explanation of memory as it suggests that memory is altered to
fit in with individual’s prior knowledge and culture. It explains why we may not accurately recall information as
it shows that inaccurate recall is due to errors in reconstruction rather than an attempt to mislead people.
Therefore, Bartlett’s study supports the theory of reconstructive memory.
However, Bartletts study has been criticised for researcher bias. This is because Bartlett himself analysed
each recall from participants and he decided what counted as accurate recall and what didn’t. This is a problem
because he may have altered the results in order to match his hypothesis lowering the validity of Bartlett’s
study into reconstructive memory.
Another weakness of Bartletts study is demand characteristics. As it was a lab experiment, ppts may have
picked up on clues to the aim of the experiment and therefore may have changed the story in order to help or
hinder the researcher or make the story more entertaining. This further lowers the validity of Bartlett’s ‘War of
the Ghosts’ study.
The Theory of Reconstructive Memory (AO1)
The Theory of Reconstructive Memory
Bartlett proposed that memory is an active process and individuals record small pieces of
information and later when we are recalling an event, we combine these pieces of
information to tell the whole story. Each time you recall, these fragments may be
combined slightly differently, meaning that it may not be an accurate recall of events.
Effort After Meaning
Individuals recall the meaning of events rather than specific
details. After an event individuals make an effort to interpret the
meaning in more familiar terms to make sense of the fragments.
Individuals change an event into a version that makes sense,
which involves making assumptions or guesses on what should
have happened
Individuals may alter their memories in order to fit in with their
cultural or social expectations of what they expect to happen. For
example, if eyewitnesses are recalling an attack that occurred in
the street, even if they didn’t see the attack, they may recall a
man as an attacker because in society males are more aggressive.
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The Theory of Reconstructive Memory (AO3)
Research to support the theory of reconstructive memory comes from Bartlett (1932). He told British ppts
the ‘War of the Ghosts’ story (a Native American Indian story) and asked them to recall it several times. He found
that ppts shortened the story and altered it to fit their own cultural expectations. This supports the theory of
reconstructive memory as it shows that memory is an active process and individuals interpret events in more
familiar terms, which can lead to inaccuracies.
However, a weakness of the theory of reconstructive memory is that some memories are in fact accurate.
Research has shown that when memories are personal and unambiguous, recall is mostly accurate meaning that
people do not always reconstruct memories, limiting the theory of reconstructive memory.
A strength of the theory is that it can explain why eyewitness testimonies in court are not always accurate.
Even if an eyewitness has sworn on oath that their version of events is correct, later they may be provided with
evidence that contradicts them. Therefore, reconstructive memories explain why these eyewitnesses have
inaccurate recall and that it is not an attempt to mislead anyone, therefore this theory is an important in
explaining inaccuracies in court.
Factors Affecting the Accuracy of Recall
• Interference
• Context
• False Memories
Factors Affecting the Accuracy of Recall: Interference (AO1)
Forgetting occurs when two pieces of information are similar and get
confused in the LTM. One memory affects the ability to recall another
memory, leading to inaccurate recall.
Proactive Interference is when an old memory interferes with a new piece
of information e.g. knowing your old phone number but struggled to recall
your new one
Retroactive Interference is when a new memory interferes with the ability
to remember an old memory or piece of information we have learned
before. For example, the memory of a new car registration number
prevents recall of a previous one.
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Factors Affecting the Accuracy of Recall: Interference (AO3)
Research to support interference was conducted by McGeoch & McDonald (1931), who gave participants a
list of 10 word to learn (List A). Once the participants had learnt this list they were given a 10-minute break
where they had to learn a second list of words (List B). Participants were then asked to recall List A. It was found
that if List B was a list of similar meaning words (synonyms) to List A recall was poor, however, if the words in List
B were different to List A recall was higher. This supports the interference theory leading to inaccurate recall
because it demonstrates that interference is strongest the more similar the items are.
However, McGeoch & McDonald’s research into interference has been criticised for lacking ecological
validity. This is because it was a lab experiment so took place in an artificial environment with an artificial task of
having to remember a list of words. This is not reflective of recall in real life and therefore it is difficult to
generalise the results into interference as a factor affecting recall to everyday situations of memory.
An alternative factor affecting the accuracy of recall is context. This theory suggests that recall is inaccurate
because of a lack of external cues in the environment leads individuals to forget and recall information
inaccurately rather than two pieces of similar information interfering with each other. Therefore, interference is
not the only factor to consider when explaining inaccurate recall.
Factors Affecting the Accuracy of Recall: Context (AO1)
External triggers (cues) are encoded in the memory at the time of
learning e.g. sights, sounds, smells and textures etc.
Each memory is then associated with these cues and when an
individual is put back in that context, the associations are recreated
and can help to aide memory recall. An absence of the context and
cues can lead to forgetting and inaccurate recall. For example, a
person may forget information when sitting an exam in a different
classroom which they learned the information.
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Factors Affecting the Accuracy of Recall: Context (AO3)
Research to support context as a factor affecting the accuracy of recall was
conducted by Godden & Baddeley (1975). Scuba divers were given a list of
words to learn either on land or under water. They were then asked to recall
the list in either the same setting they learned, or the opposite. It was found
that the participants were more likely to forget the words if tested in the
opposite location to where they had learned the words. This gives support to
context as a factor affecting recall because it demonstrates that when there is
a lack of external memory cues (different environment), forgetting is more
likely.
However, although Godden & Baddeley’s research was a field experiment,
it has been criticised for using an artificial task. This is because remember a list
of words is not reflective of memories and recall in real life and therefore it is
difficult to generalise the results into context as a factor affecting recall to
everyday situations of memory.
An alternative factor affecting the accuracy of recall is interference. This
theory suggests that recall is inaccurate because similar information interferes
with each other during coding and makes it difficult to accurately recall the
information rather than having a lack of external cues in the environment.
Therefore, context is not the only factor to consider when explaining
inaccurate recall.
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Factors Affecting the Accuracy of Recall: False Memories (AO1)
False memories are when an individual remembers something that hasn’t actually happened. This can be due to
memory reconstruction.
These memories seem real but aren’t. For example, an individual may think they have put the washing machine
on before they went out but they didn’t
Factors Affecting the Accuracy of Recall: False Memories (AO3)
Research to support false memories as a factor affecting the accuracy of recall was conducted by Loftus and
Pickrell (1995). They questioned ppts about their childhood using information from their parents to describe a
true event that occurred as well as a false event (getting lost in a shopping centre when they were young). 25%
of the ppts believed the false memory thinking they had actually become lost and recalled details about what
happened to them while they were lost. This supports that false memories can be mistaken for real memories
and therefore affect the accuracy of recall.
However, Loftus and Pickerell’s study into false memories raises ethical issues. The ppts were manipulated
because the researchers planted false memories in their head and getting lost in the mall as a child may have
brought up traumatic feelings for the ppts as they believed this was real, meaning that ppts may not have been
protected from harm. This devalues the research into false memories as a factor affecting the accuracy of recall
and devalues psychology’s status.
An alternative factor affecting the accuracy of recall is interference. This theory suggests that recall is
inaccurate because similar information interferes with each other during coding and makes it difficult to
accurately recall the information rather than having false memories. Therefore, false memories is not the only
factor to consider when explaining inaccurate recall.
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Exam Practise
Question 1
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Question 2
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