Paper 1 Exam Questions

Question 1

Describe the multi-store model of memory (4)

Answer 1

• Information flows through sensory, short term and long term memory stores.
• Information is transferred from the sensory to short term memory if we pay attention to it.
• Information is transferred from the short term to the long term memory store if it is rehearsed.
• Each store has different characteristics. For example, the short-term store has a capacity of about 7 items whilst the capacity of long term memory is unlimited.

Question 2

Evaluate the multi-store model of memory (5)

Answer 2

Weakness - doesn’t explain how we can remember information even though we have rehearsed it and also struggles to explain why we can forget information that we have practiced and rehearsed.

Strength- there is research evidence to support the idea that there are distinct sensory, short term and long term memory stores. Research shows that sensory, short term and long term memory are usually encoded in different forms and also differ in their duration and capacity.

Question 3

Describe Gilchrist and Nesberg’s study into how motivation affects perception (4)

Answer 3

• One group of participants was deprived of food for 20 hours whilst the other ate normal meals throughout this time.
• Each participant was shown four projected images of food for 15 seconds.
• Each image was projected a second time. This time the researchers altered the brightness of each slide.
• Participants were asked to adjust the brightness of each slide back to its original setting.
• Participants that had been deprived of food adjusted the images to be brighter than the group that had eaten normally.
• This shows that the motivation of hunger affected how participants perceived food.

Question 4

Evaluate the research method used in Gilchrist and Nesberg’s study (5)

Answer 4

Weakness - this was a lab based study so the participants were under highly controlled conditions.

Strength - procedures are standardised so the study can be replicated.

Question 5

Briefly evaluate the reconstructive theory of memory (2)

Answer 5

There is research evidence to support the idea that people add effort after meaning when recalling events. For example, in Bartlett’s ‘War of the Ghosts’ study, participants changed parts of the story when they retold it, showing that memories are reconstructed.