Topic 2: Memory – How does your memory work?

Memory is a core topic in cognitive psychology, exploring how we encode, store, and retrieve information. This topic covers the multi-store model (Atkinson & Shiffrin), including sensory register, short-term memory (STM), and long-term memory (LTM), along with their capacities, durations, and coding. You'll also study the working memory model (Baddeley & Hitch), which breaks down STM into the central executive, phonological loop, visuospatial sketchpad, and episodic buffer. Understanding these models helps explain everyday phenomena like why we forget names or why cramming for exams often fails.

Memory research has real-world applications in education (e.g., using chunking to improve revision), eyewitness testimony (e.g., effects of leading questions), and therapy (e.g., treating false memories). For your Edexcel GCSE exam, you need to describe and evaluate these models, using key studies like Peterson & Peterson (1959) for STM duration and Baddeley (1966) for coding. You'll also explore factors affecting memory, such as interference, context, and the serial position effect.

This topic builds on earlier work in cognitive psychology and links to later topics like 'How does your brain work?' and 'Psychological problems'. Mastering memory gives you a foundation for understanding how we learn and recall information—skills essential for revision itself!