AQA A-LEVEL PSYCHOLOGY PAPER 1
PRACTICE TEST PAPER 2026 INTRODUCTORY
TOPICS FULL QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
◉ Strength for Coding: Separate Memory Stores. Answer: identified
a clear difference between the two memory stores.
Later research showed that there are some exceptions to Baddeley's
findings.
But the idea that STM uses mostly acoustic coding and LTM mostly
semantic has stood the test of time.
This was an important step in our understanding of the memory
system, which led to the multi-store model
◉ Limitation for Coding: Artificial Stimuli. Answer: used quite
artificial stimuli rather than meaningful material.
For example, the word lists had no personal meaning to participants.
So Baddeley's findings may not tell us much about coding in
different kinds of memory tasks, especially in everyday life.
,When processing more meaningful information, people may use
semantic coding even for STM tasks.
This suggests that the findings from this study have limited
application.
◉ Strength for Capacity: a valid study. Answer: has been replicated.
The study is a very old one and early research in psychology often
lacked adequate controls.
For example, some participants' digit spans might have been
underestimated because they were distracted during testing
(confounding variable). Despite this, Jacobs' findings have been
confirmed by other, better-controlled studies (e.g. Bopp and
Verhaeghen 2005).
This suggests that Jacobs' study is a valid test of digit span in STM.
◉ Limitation for Capacity: not so many chunks. Answer: he may have
overestimated STM capacity.
Nelson Cowan (2001) reviewed other research and concluded that
the capacity of STM is only about 4 (plus or minus 1) chunks.
,This suggests that the lower end of Miller's estimate (five items) is
more appropriate than seven items.
◉ Limitation for Duration: Meaningless stimuli in STM study.
Answer: stimulus material was artificial.
The study is not completely irrelevant because we do sometimes try
to remember fairly meaningless material (e.g. phone numbers).
Even so, recalling consonant syllables does not reflect most everyday
memory activities where what we are trying to remember is
meaningful.
This means the study lacked external validity.
◉ Strength for Duration: High external validity. Answer: high
external validity.
This is because the researchers investigated meaningful memories
(i.e. of people's names and faces).
When studies on LTM were conducted with meaningless pictures to
be remembered, recall rates were lower (e.g. Shepard 1967).
, This suggests that Bahrick et al's findings reflect a more 'real'
estimate of the duration of LTM.
◉ Multi-store model. Answer: An explanation of memory based on
three separate memory stores, and how information is transferred
between these stores.
◉ sensory register. Answer: The memory store for each of our five
senses, such as vision (ichoic) and hearing (echoic).
◉ maintenance rehearsal. Answer: repeating stimuli in their original
form to retain them in short-term memory, if we rehearse long
enough it will go into our long term memory
◉ Strengths of the multi-store model: RS. Answer: support from
studies showing that STM and LTM are different.
For example, Alan Baddeley (1966) found that we tend to mix up
words that sound similar when we are using our STMs. But we mix
up words that have similar meanings when we use our LTMs.
Further support comes from the studies of capacity and duration.
PRACTICE TEST PAPER 2026 INTRODUCTORY
TOPICS FULL QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
◉ Strength for Coding: Separate Memory Stores. Answer: identified
a clear difference between the two memory stores.
Later research showed that there are some exceptions to Baddeley's
findings.
But the idea that STM uses mostly acoustic coding and LTM mostly
semantic has stood the test of time.
This was an important step in our understanding of the memory
system, which led to the multi-store model
◉ Limitation for Coding: Artificial Stimuli. Answer: used quite
artificial stimuli rather than meaningful material.
For example, the word lists had no personal meaning to participants.
So Baddeley's findings may not tell us much about coding in
different kinds of memory tasks, especially in everyday life.
,When processing more meaningful information, people may use
semantic coding even for STM tasks.
This suggests that the findings from this study have limited
application.
◉ Strength for Capacity: a valid study. Answer: has been replicated.
The study is a very old one and early research in psychology often
lacked adequate controls.
For example, some participants' digit spans might have been
underestimated because they were distracted during testing
(confounding variable). Despite this, Jacobs' findings have been
confirmed by other, better-controlled studies (e.g. Bopp and
Verhaeghen 2005).
This suggests that Jacobs' study is a valid test of digit span in STM.
◉ Limitation for Capacity: not so many chunks. Answer: he may have
overestimated STM capacity.
Nelson Cowan (2001) reviewed other research and concluded that
the capacity of STM is only about 4 (plus or minus 1) chunks.
,This suggests that the lower end of Miller's estimate (five items) is
more appropriate than seven items.
◉ Limitation for Duration: Meaningless stimuli in STM study.
Answer: stimulus material was artificial.
The study is not completely irrelevant because we do sometimes try
to remember fairly meaningless material (e.g. phone numbers).
Even so, recalling consonant syllables does not reflect most everyday
memory activities where what we are trying to remember is
meaningful.
This means the study lacked external validity.
◉ Strength for Duration: High external validity. Answer: high
external validity.
This is because the researchers investigated meaningful memories
(i.e. of people's names and faces).
When studies on LTM were conducted with meaningless pictures to
be remembered, recall rates were lower (e.g. Shepard 1967).
, This suggests that Bahrick et al's findings reflect a more 'real'
estimate of the duration of LTM.
◉ Multi-store model. Answer: An explanation of memory based on
three separate memory stores, and how information is transferred
between these stores.
◉ sensory register. Answer: The memory store for each of our five
senses, such as vision (ichoic) and hearing (echoic).
◉ maintenance rehearsal. Answer: repeating stimuli in their original
form to retain them in short-term memory, if we rehearse long
enough it will go into our long term memory
◉ Strengths of the multi-store model: RS. Answer: support from
studies showing that STM and LTM are different.
For example, Alan Baddeley (1966) found that we tend to mix up
words that sound similar when we are using our STMs. But we mix
up words that have similar meanings when we use our LTMs.
Further support comes from the studies of capacity and duration.
