GCSE Psychology (AQA) Memory
Complete Memory Topic Revision Pack
/
AO1 + AO2 + AO3 | Exam Technique | Model Answers | Retrieval
Practice | 2027 Predictions Included
✔ WHAT’S INCLUDED
- Model Answers and Exam Structure
- Evaluation Points (AO3)
- Retrieval Questions
- 2027 Exam Predictions
✔ PERFECT FOR
- Year 10 & Year 11 GCSE students
- Revision before mocks and exams.
- Improving grades from 4-9.
✔ EXAM FOCUS
- 1, 2, 3, 4, 6 and 9 mark questions.
- Key studies simplified.
- AO1 / AO2 / AO3 clearly separated.
Designed to maximise exam marks
using active recall + exam technique
1 | Page
, Contents Page
Page 3: 1-pager for the entire topic.
Page 4: Specification Checklist.
Pages 5 - 7: Definitions.
Page 8: Long-term memory (AO1 and AO3), Retrieval and Recall (AO1).
Page 9: Multi-store model (AO1 and AO3).
Page 10 - 11: Key Murdock Study (AO1 and AO3).
Page 12 - 13: Key Bartlett Study (AO1 and AO3).
Page 14: Reconstructive Theory of Memory (AO1 and AO3).
Page 15: Cue Dependent Theory (AO1 and AO3).
Page 16: Interference Theory (AO1 and AO3).
Page 17: False Memory Theory (AO1 and AO3).
Page 18: Baddeley Study (AO1 and AO3).
Page 19: McGeoch and McDonald Study (AO1 and AO3)
Page 20: Godden and Baddeley Study (AO1 and AO3)
Page 21: Loftus and Picknell Study (AO1 and AO3)
Page 22 - 23: Past Exam Questions: Answers.
Page 24 - 25: Diagrams
Page 26: 2027 Predicted Exam Questions.
Contents Page
2 | Page
, KEY TERMS KEY STUDIES / MODELS
Encoding → input of information into memory. MSM (multi-store model) → sensory, short-term and
long-term memory stores.
Storage → maintaining information over time.
Murdock’s Study → serial position study. Found
Retrieval → accessing stored information. primacy and recency effect.
Cue-dependent forgetting → forgetting due to missing Bartlett’s Study → memory is an active process. Story
environmental cues. changed to make easier to remember.
Interference → memories competing. Cue-dependent theory → we forget due to missing
environmental cues.
Proactive interference → old info disrupts new info.
Interference theory → 2 similar memories compete
Cue → trigger that helps retrieval. resulting in reduced accuracy of memory.
Retroactive interference → new info disrupts old info. Baddeley → ST encodes acoustically, LT semantically.
Sensory store → large capacity, small duration. McG/D → more interference if increased similarity.
Short-term store → 7 +-2 chunks capacity, 30 second G/B → context can improve memory.
duration, encodes acoustically.
L/P → false memories created via suggestion.
Long-term store → unlimited capacity and duration,
encodes semantically.
False memory → memory that is incorrect.
EVALUATION (AO3) EXAM PRACTICE + RETRIEVAL
Strengths: Likely Exam Questions:
- Real-world application (e.g. eyewitness testimony). - Define encoding (2 marks)
- Strong experimental evidence (controlled studies). - Outline MSM (4 marks)
Limitations: - Describe one theory of forgetting (3 marks)
- Artificial tasks result in low ecological validity. - Evaluate Bartlett’s ‘War of the Ghosts’ Study (5
- Oversimplification of some processes (e.g. multi- marks)
store model)
Memory in 30 Seconds Retrieval Questions:
- What is proactive interference?
- MSM → Sensory → STM → LTM - What is a negative of MSM?
- Forgetting → Interference or Missing Cues - What is a positive of the false memory theory?
- Bartlett → Memory is Reconstructed
- False Memories → Can be Implanted
3 | Page
,Specification Checklist:
Processes of memory:
- Different types of memory: episodic, semantic and procedural.
- How memories are encoded and stored.
Structures of memory:
- The multi-store model of memory: sensory, STM and LTM
- Features of each store: encoding, capacity and duration
- Primacy and recency effects in recall: the effects of serial position.
- Murdock’s serial position curve study.
Memory as an active process:
- The theory of reconstructive memory, including the concept of
‘effort after meaning’.
- Bartlett’s ‘War of the Ghosts’ study.
- Factors affecting the accuracy of memory, including interference,
context and false memories.
(Non-key studies included in this revision resource are to help aid the
understanding of the factors mentioned here. They are not part of the
specification but are highly recommended for those aiming for grades
7+).
NoFluff Study
@nofluffstudy
4 | Page
, Definitions:
Episodic memory – the memory of autobiographical events (times, places and
associated emotions) that can be explicitly stated.
Semantic memory – memory for facts, concepts and general knowledge.
Declarative memory – the combination of episodic and semantic memory that is
also known as explicit memory.
Procedural memory – the memory for skills and actions that can be performed
automatically without conscious recall.
Encoding – the process of converting information into a form that can be stored in
memory.
Storage – a retention of encoded information within a memory store.
Retrieval – accessing information that has been stored in memory.
Acoustic encoding – encoding information based on its sound.
Visual encoding – encoding information based on its visual appearance.
Semantic encoding – encoding information according to its meaning.
Olfactory encoding – encoding information based on its smell.
Exam Technique: Try This Now: What is encoding? (2)
In paper 1, definition
questions tend to be in the
form of multiple-choice, one Model Answer:
markers or two markers. In The conversion of information (1) into a
the case of a two-mark form that can be stored in memory (1).
definition question, ensure
to give an in-depth version of
the definition.
5 | Page
Complete Memory Topic Revision Pack
/
AO1 + AO2 + AO3 | Exam Technique | Model Answers | Retrieval
Practice | 2027 Predictions Included
✔ WHAT’S INCLUDED
- Model Answers and Exam Structure
- Evaluation Points (AO3)
- Retrieval Questions
- 2027 Exam Predictions
✔ PERFECT FOR
- Year 10 & Year 11 GCSE students
- Revision before mocks and exams.
- Improving grades from 4-9.
✔ EXAM FOCUS
- 1, 2, 3, 4, 6 and 9 mark questions.
- Key studies simplified.
- AO1 / AO2 / AO3 clearly separated.
Designed to maximise exam marks
using active recall + exam technique
1 | Page
, Contents Page
Page 3: 1-pager for the entire topic.
Page 4: Specification Checklist.
Pages 5 - 7: Definitions.
Page 8: Long-term memory (AO1 and AO3), Retrieval and Recall (AO1).
Page 9: Multi-store model (AO1 and AO3).
Page 10 - 11: Key Murdock Study (AO1 and AO3).
Page 12 - 13: Key Bartlett Study (AO1 and AO3).
Page 14: Reconstructive Theory of Memory (AO1 and AO3).
Page 15: Cue Dependent Theory (AO1 and AO3).
Page 16: Interference Theory (AO1 and AO3).
Page 17: False Memory Theory (AO1 and AO3).
Page 18: Baddeley Study (AO1 and AO3).
Page 19: McGeoch and McDonald Study (AO1 and AO3)
Page 20: Godden and Baddeley Study (AO1 and AO3)
Page 21: Loftus and Picknell Study (AO1 and AO3)
Page 22 - 23: Past Exam Questions: Answers.
Page 24 - 25: Diagrams
Page 26: 2027 Predicted Exam Questions.
Contents Page
2 | Page
, KEY TERMS KEY STUDIES / MODELS
Encoding → input of information into memory. MSM (multi-store model) → sensory, short-term and
long-term memory stores.
Storage → maintaining information over time.
Murdock’s Study → serial position study. Found
Retrieval → accessing stored information. primacy and recency effect.
Cue-dependent forgetting → forgetting due to missing Bartlett’s Study → memory is an active process. Story
environmental cues. changed to make easier to remember.
Interference → memories competing. Cue-dependent theory → we forget due to missing
environmental cues.
Proactive interference → old info disrupts new info.
Interference theory → 2 similar memories compete
Cue → trigger that helps retrieval. resulting in reduced accuracy of memory.
Retroactive interference → new info disrupts old info. Baddeley → ST encodes acoustically, LT semantically.
Sensory store → large capacity, small duration. McG/D → more interference if increased similarity.
Short-term store → 7 +-2 chunks capacity, 30 second G/B → context can improve memory.
duration, encodes acoustically.
L/P → false memories created via suggestion.
Long-term store → unlimited capacity and duration,
encodes semantically.
False memory → memory that is incorrect.
EVALUATION (AO3) EXAM PRACTICE + RETRIEVAL
Strengths: Likely Exam Questions:
- Real-world application (e.g. eyewitness testimony). - Define encoding (2 marks)
- Strong experimental evidence (controlled studies). - Outline MSM (4 marks)
Limitations: - Describe one theory of forgetting (3 marks)
- Artificial tasks result in low ecological validity. - Evaluate Bartlett’s ‘War of the Ghosts’ Study (5
- Oversimplification of some processes (e.g. multi- marks)
store model)
Memory in 30 Seconds Retrieval Questions:
- What is proactive interference?
- MSM → Sensory → STM → LTM - What is a negative of MSM?
- Forgetting → Interference or Missing Cues - What is a positive of the false memory theory?
- Bartlett → Memory is Reconstructed
- False Memories → Can be Implanted
3 | Page
,Specification Checklist:
Processes of memory:
- Different types of memory: episodic, semantic and procedural.
- How memories are encoded and stored.
Structures of memory:
- The multi-store model of memory: sensory, STM and LTM
- Features of each store: encoding, capacity and duration
- Primacy and recency effects in recall: the effects of serial position.
- Murdock’s serial position curve study.
Memory as an active process:
- The theory of reconstructive memory, including the concept of
‘effort after meaning’.
- Bartlett’s ‘War of the Ghosts’ study.
- Factors affecting the accuracy of memory, including interference,
context and false memories.
(Non-key studies included in this revision resource are to help aid the
understanding of the factors mentioned here. They are not part of the
specification but are highly recommended for those aiming for grades
7+).
NoFluff Study
@nofluffstudy
4 | Page
, Definitions:
Episodic memory – the memory of autobiographical events (times, places and
associated emotions) that can be explicitly stated.
Semantic memory – memory for facts, concepts and general knowledge.
Declarative memory – the combination of episodic and semantic memory that is
also known as explicit memory.
Procedural memory – the memory for skills and actions that can be performed
automatically without conscious recall.
Encoding – the process of converting information into a form that can be stored in
memory.
Storage – a retention of encoded information within a memory store.
Retrieval – accessing information that has been stored in memory.
Acoustic encoding – encoding information based on its sound.
Visual encoding – encoding information based on its visual appearance.
Semantic encoding – encoding information according to its meaning.
Olfactory encoding – encoding information based on its smell.
Exam Technique: Try This Now: What is encoding? (2)
In paper 1, definition
questions tend to be in the
form of multiple-choice, one Model Answer:
markers or two markers. In The conversion of information (1) into a
the case of a two-mark form that can be stored in memory (1).
definition question, ensure
to give an in-depth version of
the definition.
5 | Page
