GCSEPsychologyAQAExam QuestionsMemoryMemory as an Active Process

Memory as an Active Process (AQA GCSE Psychology): Exam Questions

Exam code: 8182

36 mins8 questions
12 marks

One factor that can affect the accuracy of memory is context.

Which two of the following are most likely to occur due to context?

Choose two answers.

  • We call our new English teacher by our previous teacher’s name.

  • We cannot remember information during a class test because we revised for the test at home.

  • We forget our old mobile phone number since we replaced it with a new one.

  • We incorrectly remember our lines in the school play because we have not rehearsed them enough.

  • We see the school librarian in the local supermarket and cannot remember his name.

Choose your answer

29 marks

The theory of reconstructive memory states that people recreate their memories by actively using what they already know and believe about the world.

Describe and evaluate one study that has investigated reconstructive memory.

How did you do?

31 mark

Which of the following is the correct definition of a ‘false memory’?

Choose one correct answer.

  • A feeling that we have experienced something similar before

  • A memory for something that didn’t happen but feels true

  • Not being able to remember the correct answer to a question

  • The confusion between two similar memories

Choose your answer

43 marks

Describe the method used by Bartlett in his ‘War of the Ghosts’ study.

How did you do?

54 marks

Read the following information.

Dan and his Uncle Bill are chatting about the day Dan was born.

Dan: “Uncle Bill, what day of the week was I born on?”

Uncle Bill: “I think you were born on a Tuesday. Or maybe it was your older sister who was born on a Tuesday. I get mixed up.”

Use your knowledge of interference to explain why Uncle Bill cannot accurately remember what day of the week Dan was born on.

How did you do?

6a1 mark

Identify one factor that has been shown to affect the accuracy of memory.

How did you do?

6b3 marks

Use your knowledge of psychology to describe how the factor you have identified in question (a) affects the accuracy of memory.

How did you do?

74 marks

Briefly discuss two criticisms of research into factors that affect the accuracy of memory.

How did you do?

89 marks

Tim came home from school and said to his Mum:

‘In our lesson today, the teacher read out a story called the War of the Ghosts. Then we all had to write down what we could remember of the story. It was very difficult. I wrote that the two boys went fishing in a fishing boat, but really one of them went to a battle in a canoe!!’

Discuss what Bartlett’s theory and research into reconstructive memory and at least one theory of language and thought tell us about the possible relationship between language and thought. Refer to Tim’s conversation with his mother as part of your answer.

How did you do?