Other
AQA A Level Psychology Memory Essay Plans
Concise, detailed essay plans covering the whole AQA A Level Psychology Memory topic, created and used to achieve an A* in the 2024 Psychology A Level exam series.
[Show more]
Seller
Follow
Content preview
Essay: Short- and long-term memoryAO1 - STM: memory for immediate events
- Capacity: 7+- 2 items, duration: 18-30 seconds,
coding: acoustic
- LTM: memory of past events
- Capacity: unlimited, duration: unlimited, coding:
semantic
- Capacity: how much info can be held either by
STM store or LTM store
- Duration: how long info can be held for either by
STM store or LTM store
- Coding: how info is translated into the STM or LTM
stores
AO3 x 1 - Support for STM limited capacity
- Simon conducted research which found most ppts
could recall chunks of 8 one-syllable words
- Therefore shows STM is most effective when info
can be chunked e.g. in phrases rather than as
individual items
- Contributes to overall understanding
AO3 x 2 - Criticism of testing STM
- All STM testing tasks are based on artificial tasks
which do not reflect ordinary memory occurrences
in real life
- Lack of mundane realism reduces generalisability
of STM conclusions as they’re not reflective of real
life
- However means variables can be well controlled
to establish cause and effect relationships
AO3 x 3 - Baddley may not have tested LTM
- Baddley tested LTM by asking ppts to recall a list
of words 20 mins after encoding
- Therefore doesn’t fully test duration of LTM as 20
mins is very short compared to proposed
unlimited duration of LTM
- Understanding of LTM may be incomplete
AO3 x 4 - General rule for capacity of STM may not exist
- Depending on variables such as age and chunking
strategies, STM performance varies between
people
- Suggests STM is not fixed and that individual
differences contribute
- Jacobs found capacity noticeably increased with
age (between 8 and 19 year olds)
, Essay: The multi-store model of memory
AO1 - Proposed by Atkinson and Shiffrin
- Environmental stimuli
- Sensory register: where info from each of the
senses is held
- Attention: info which is consciously noticed, all
other sensory info is ignored
- STM store: info is held to be used for immediate
tasks, maintained through maintenance rehearsal
or can be retrieved – info can be displaced by new
info due to limited capacity
- LTM store: potentially unlimited in duration and
capacity, uses elaborative rehearsal to transfer
info from STM to LTM, info is brought into the STM
store via retrieval from the LTM
AO3 x 1 - Case study support – HM
- Had his hippocampus removed and couldn’t form
any new LTMs but could retrieve old memories
from the LTM
- Suggests lost ability for elaborative rehearsal but
could still retrieve, evidence for seperate stores
and functions
- Case study means low generalisability
AO3 x 2 - Supporting evidence
- Beardsley found the prefrontal cortex is active
during STM but not LTM, suggesting they involve
different processes
- Brain scanning so scientific methodology –
contributes to psychology as a science
AO3 x 3 - MSM is too simple
- Researchers argue there must be subdivisions of
STM and LTM stores, as different kinds of memory
(particularly LTM) must be stored differently
- E.g. semantic memory is maintained via
maintenance rehearsal, but this doesn’t make
sense for episodic memory
- Therefore MSM needs more development to
explain different LTM types
AO3 x 4 - Use of artificial tasks – lack of mundane realisms
so poor real world application
- Most memory tasks are lab studies in which ppts
are asked to carry out unrealistic tasks
- Therefore results may not be reflective of real
world memory storage and interaction
The benefits of buying summaries with Stuvia:
Guaranteed quality through customer reviews
Stuvia customers have reviewed more than 700,000 summaries. This how you know that you are buying the best documents.
Quick and easy check-out
You can quickly pay through credit card for the summaries. There is no membership needed.
Focus on what matters
Your fellow students write the study notes themselves, which is why the documents are always reliable and up-to-date. This ensures you quickly get to the core!
Frequently asked questions
What do I get when I buy this document?
You get a PDF, available immediately after your purchase. The purchased document is accessible anytime, anywhere and indefinitely through your profile.
Satisfaction guarantee: how does it work?
Our satisfaction guarantee ensures that you always find a study document that suits you well. You fill out a form, and our customer service team takes care of the rest.
Who am I buying these notes from?
Stuvia is a marketplace, so you are not buying this document from us, but from seller izzyoc1310. Stuvia facilitates payment to the seller.
Will I be stuck with a subscription?
No, you only buy these notes for £5.99. You're not tied to anything after your purchase.
Can Stuvia be trusted?
4.6 stars on Google & Trustpilot (+1000 reviews)
52928 documents were sold in the last 30 days
Founded in 2010, the go-to place to buy revision notes and other study material for 14 years now