• Flow of information in memory
  • Encoding – Storage – Retrieval
• Multi-store memory
  • Sensory – short-term – long-term
• Reconstructive memory
  • Belief can alter our memory of something
• Levels of processing
  • Structural – appearance (least likely to remember)
  • Phonetic – sound (moderate)
  • Semantic – meaning (most likely to remember)
• Forgetting
  • Retroactive interference – information recently learnt affects previous learning
  • Proactive interference – information already learnt affects recent learning
  • Context – we recall information better in the same context in which it was learnt
  • Retrograde amnesia – damage to hippocampus can make you forget memories before the accident
  • Anterograde amnesia – damage to the brain can prevent you from learning new information
• Factors affecting reliability of eyewitness testimony
  Leading questions
  • Context in which questioning takes place
  • How quickly after the event the questioning takes place
  • Unfamiliar faces are more difficult to identify than familiar ones
  • Stereotypes or reconstructive memory

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Test It!

1. What is the flow of information in memory?
2. Describe the multi-store explanation of memory.
3. What is meant by the term ‘reconstructive memory’?
4. What practical implications does this have?
5. What are the levels of processing? Give examples, where possible, to illustrate your answer.
6. What is meant by the terms retroactive interference and proactive interference?
7. What affect can brain damage have on memory?
8. What factors can influence the accuracy of eyewitness testimony?
9. What practical steps can be taken to increase the accuracy of eyewitness testimony?

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Some top tips!

1. Print out the Test It! Questions – it will allow you to replicate exam conditions and also allows you to give your eyes a rest from the computer screen whilst doing your crucial revision.
2. Make a copy of the Remember It! Section and put in a place that you often look at. i.e. front of a journal, next to a mirror, on a kitchen cupboard door, etc. That way you can do some cheeky psychology revision whilst doing those things you have to do!

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End of section – Congratulations!

Carry on revising GCSE Psychology – Next topic: Non-verbal Communication