GCSE Psychology Textbook Sample
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It just weighs about 3 pounds – Contents about the same as 1½ bags of sugar. Memory And holds about 100 billion nerve Processes of memory cells, and all your memories. Encoding, storage and retrieval 12 A study of encoding 14 • How are those memories stored? Different types of memory 16 • What do the memories actually Structures of memory look like in the brain? The multi-store model of memory 18 • Why do you think you remember Primacy and recency effects in recall 20 some things and not others? Memory as an active process • Are memories accurate? Barlett’s War of the Ghosts study 22 • If they are not accurate, what The theory of reconstructive memory 24 makes them lack accuracy? Factors affecting the accuracy of memory Interference 26 Context 28 False memories 30 Revision summary 32 Practice questions, answers and feedback 34 Multiple choice questions 36 Chapter 1 from AQA Psychology for GCSE by Cara Flanagan, Dave Berry, Ruth Jones, Mark Jones and Rob Liddle © Illuminate Publishing These pages are uncorrected proofs and contain unfinalised artwork Please note: the following material been entered in an AQA approval process Chapter 1 10 Chapter 1 Memory Chapter 1 Contents 11 Processes of memory: It’s on the tip of my tongue. Encoding, storage and retrieval K LINK A phrase which generally means failing THIN to retrieve a word or name from Memory is an example of a cognitive memory but having some idea what it process. ‘Cognitive’ means knowledge. is and also feeling that any moment the The specification says … Chapter 3 concerns cognitive development word will be recalled. Processes of memory: encoding (input), storage Encoding – looking at how children think and learn. and retrieval (output). You should always be on the lookout for Memory involves three processes: putting information into your brain (encoding), links across the specification. How memories are encoded and stored. storing it there and retrieving it again. To begin we are going to focus on the encoding part. Encoding means changing information so it can be stored in the brain. The form The memory palace of the information is changed. Visual encoding Encode – store – retrieve Some memories are stored visually. For example, if I ask you to count the windows on your house you probably ‘see’ your house in your mind in order to ‘Memory’ describes a whole lot of different things: remembering count the windows. That information is visually encoded. your last birthday, remembering the capital of France, remembering Apply it – concept what you did in your last maths lesson, remembering stuff for Acoustic encoding exams, remembering where you put that necklace, remembering how to ride a bicycle … Ezra revising Some memories are stored in terms of what they sound like. The most obvious example would be your favourite songs. If you think about them, you can hear In all cases, we can describe the process in terms of: Read the item below and then answer the questions that follow. the words and music. 1. Encoding: the information must be translated into a form so Ezra finds that when he revises for his Psychology test, he Another example is learning the alphabet to the tune of Twinkle twinkle little star that it can be held in your brain. remembers more information if he re-writes passages of the – the rhyme is encoded acoustically. 2. Storage: the information is then kept in your brain for a period textbook into his own words as opposed to just staring at the of time – possibly even a lifetime. textbook page or reading the page out loud. Semantic encoding 3. Retrieval: the information has to be located and brought back A friend tests Ezra by asking him to recall what he learned ‘Semantic’ refers to meaning. We all know thousands of words and your semantic out of your brain. memory is the meaning of these words – that is your ability to understand and the previous day. Ezra finds that he remembers most of the You can retrieve memories in several different ways: use words and concepts. information but not all of it. However, when he is given the • Recognition – for example, doing multiple choice questions, you opportunity to look at some key words from his notes he finds For example, you know and understand the word elephant and you can use the are given four possible answers and have to decide which one is that he can remember the rest of the information. word in a sentence. the right answer. Or seeing someone and being able to identify who they are – which is different from trying to recall what Questions Other encoding someone looks like. 1. Identify the different ways in which Ezra learns. Refer to Every year a World Memory Championship is held Tactile encoding is a memory of what things feel like and olfactory memory is • Cued recall – you try to remember a piece of information … it’s the different types of encoding in your answer. [3 marks] where competitors have to memorise long lists of memory for smells. on the tip of your tongue … and then someone gives you a clue or cue (It begins with the letter ‘B’) and you can remember it. 2. Why couldn’t Ezra remember all of his notes the following hundreds of numbers and words. Ben Pridmore, from day? [2 marks] Derby, has won three times and explains how he • Free recall is when you retrieve it without cues. achieves mind boggling feats – it’s called the method of loci or the memory palace. He memorises long lists of numbers by encoding them in meaningful associations. Study tip Ben turns numbers into images and then places Apply it – research them around an environment he knows well – in Don’t lose marks his case it is often his old school, Queen Elizabeth’s Recognition or recall? Make sure you expand enough on your answers. Grammar School in Horncastle, Lincolnchsire. To Meaningful recall the numbers he takes a walk round the school associations … A psychologist conducted a study on memory to see which When explaining key terms in Psychology (see question 3 below), and retrieves them. method of remembering was superior – recognition or recall. it is always good practice to give a relevant example to illustrate In the recall condition, 10 participants studied a list of 20 your point as this further demonstrates your knowledge and You may not be very impressed by this method but All sorts of memory ‘tricks’ rely on making meaningful words. The list was removed and the participants wrote down understanding of a topic (AO1). it is surprisingly effective and used by all memory associations. For example as many words as they could remember. In the recognition champions and stage performers. condition, 10 different participants studied the same list of You can see a great demonstration of this method by ROY G. BIV helps me (Cara) remember the words. After this was removed, they were given a list of 100 Professor Robert Winston here colours of the rainbow (R stands for red, O for orange …) words which included the 20 they had seen previously. They had to select the words they recognised. tinyurl.com/lumdv6f Or you can use each letter to make up a rhyme: 1. Which one of the following terms is a description Richard of York Gave Battle in Vain. Questions of storage? (i) Putting information into your memory. Both of these are well known mnemonic techniques – methods 1. Write a suitable alternative hypothesis for this study. (ii) Recalling information. Check it What is meant by … to improve your recall of lists of things. [2 marks] 2. Apart from ethical issues explain one strength of the Encoding (iii) Learning information in terms of how it sounds. research method used in this study. [2 marks] (iv) Holding information in your memory. [1 mark] DRAFT3. The psychologist used two different groups of participants. Stretch and challenge Identify this experimental design and explain how she 2. Use your knowledge of psychology to explain how could have allocated the participants to the two conditions memories are encoded. Give an example in your Retrieval Test it yourself. Ask people you know about whether they answer. [2 marks] use meaningful associations such as the rhyme above to help of the study. [1 mark + 2 marks] them remember things. What kinds of things do people use 4. The psychologist repeated the study using a matched pairs 3. Explain what is meant by each of the following to help them remember? design. Explain one reason why she did this. [2 marks] terms: storage and retrieval. [4 marks] 12 Chapter 1 Memory Processes of memory: Encoding, storage and retrieval 13 Processes of memory: A study of encoding Evaluation Apply it – research The specification says… A controlled experiment DTPC and OZVF Processes of memory: How memories are encoded. A study of encoding + Point: One strength is this is a well-controlled A memory researcher wanted to see if Questions Alan Baddeley (1966 a, b) conducted one of the best-known studies of experiment which enhances the validity of the encoding in memory. results. encoding in STM really is acoustic. She selected a sample of 24 participants and 1. The researcher presented each Psychologists distinguish between short-term memories (STMs) and long- Explanation: The study was conducted divided them into two equal groups. participant with five sequences. term memories (LTMs) – sometimes we store information but only rather within a lab where conditions could be carefully Explain how she could have used briefly; for example, if you are phoning someone up you remember their controlled so that no other factors would In Condition A, the participants were randomisation to do this.