In simple terms
A friendly intro before the formal notes — no formulas yet.
Your Mind as an Information System
Cognitive processing is how our minds take in, organise and use information. Because we cannot watch a memory being made, psychologists build models — simplified pictures of the mind — that we can test against evidence and refine.
Think of memory like handling post at a busy office. Everything arrives at the front desk (sensory memory) for a split second; only what you pay attention to is carried to your desk (short-term / working memory), where you actively sort and use it; and what you rehearse or make meaningful is filed away in the archive (long-term memory) for later. A model of memory is just a labelled floor-plan of that office — useful, but never the whole building.
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Information from the senses is registered very briefly in sensory memory.
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Attention moves selected information into short-term / working memory, where it is held and manipulated.
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Rehearsal or meaningful processing transfers information into long-term memory for durable storage.
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Existing schemas shape what we encode and how we later retrieve it — sometimes distorting the memory.
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Full topic notes
Formal explanation with the rigour you need for the exam.
The Multi-Store Model of Memory (MSM)
Proposed by Atkinson and Shiffrin (1968), the multi-store model was the first influential attempt to map human memory. It describes memory as a linear flow of information through three separate stores, each defined by its capacity (how much it holds), duration (how long it holds it) and encoding (the form in which information is stored). Information can only move forward if the right process — attention, then rehearsal — takes place.
Evaluation: the MSM's great strength is that it gave memory research a clear, testable structure and is well supported by evidence for separate stores (Glanzer and Cunitz) and by patient studies. However, it is criticised as too simplistic. It treats STM as a single passive store, yet the case of patient KF — whose verbal STM was impaired while his visual STM was intact — shows STM has more than one component. It also treats rehearsal as the only route to LTM, but emotionally significant events (e.g. flashbulb memories) can enter LTM with little or no rehearsal. The working-memory model was developed to address the first of these weaknesses.
Sensory memory — registers everything the senses detect (iconic for vision, echoic for sound) for a fraction of a second. Only what receives ATTENTION passes on; the rest fades.
Short-term memory (STM) — limited capacity (approx. 7 ± 2 items) and duration (approx. 18-30 seconds), encoded mainly acoustically. Information is lost by decay or displacement unless it is rehearsed.
Long-term memory (LTM) — potentially unlimited capacity and duration, encoded mainly semantically (by meaning). Information reaches LTM through elaborative rehearsal and can be retrieved back into STM when needed.
Supporting study — Glanzer and Cunitz (1966). Aim: to test whether STM and LTM are separate stores. Procedure: participants recalled lists of words either immediately or after a filled 30-second delay. Findings: immediate recall produced a serial-position curve with strong primacy (first items, rehearsed into LTM) and recency (last items, still in STM) effects; a delay wiped out the recency effect but left primacy intact. This double dissociation supports the MSM's claim of two distinct stores.
The Working-Memory Model (WMM)
Baddeley and Hitch (1974) argued that the MSM's single STM box was inadequate. They replaced it with 'working memory' — an active system for temporarily holding AND manipulating information while we carry out tasks such as reasoning, reading or mental arithmetic. Working memory is made of a controller and specialised subsystems, each handling a different type of information.
Evaluation: the WMM explains a great deal that the MSM cannot — including dual-task performance, the impaired-verbal / intact-visual pattern seen in patient KF, and everyday multitasking. It is supported by dual-task experiments and by brain-imaging showing different areas active for verbal and visual tasks, which raises its validity. Its main limitation is the central executive: it is the least understood component, hard to measure, and probably too vague to be a single system. The WMM also describes only short-term working memory and says little about long-term memory, so it is a partial model rather than a complete account.
Central executive — the attentional controller that directs focus and shares limited resources between the subsystems. It has NO storage capacity of its own.
Phonological loop — processes sound and language. It has two parts: the phonological store (the 'inner ear' that holds speech-based information) and the articulatory process (the 'inner voice' that rehearses it).
Visuo-spatial sketchpad — the 'inner eye' that holds and manipulates visual and spatial information, such as picturing a route or a diagram.
Episodic buffer — added by Baddeley in 2000. A temporary store that integrates information from the other components into a single episode and links working memory to LTM.
Supporting study — Baddeley and Hitch (1976) dual-task procedure. Aim: to test whether working memory has separate components. Procedure: participants performed two tasks at once, either two that used the same component or two that used different components. Findings: doing two visual tasks (or two verbal tasks) together caused a big drop in performance, but pairing a visual task with a verbal task caused little interference. This is exactly what you would expect if separate stores handle sound and vision, supporting the WMM.
Schema Theory: how prior knowledge shapes memory
A schema is a mental framework of prior knowledge and expectations, built from experience, that helps us organise and interpret new information efficiently. Rather than storing a perfect recording of an event, we reconstruct it — and our schemas fill the gaps. Schema theory therefore explains cognitive processing as an active, top-down process: what we already know shapes what we notice, understand and remember.
Evaluation: schema theory is well supported and explains a wide range of phenomena — reconstructive memory, eyewitness distortion, and why we grasp ambiguous material better when given a relevant context. Its weakness is that 'schema' is a somewhat vague concept: we cannot directly observe or measure a schema, so it is hard to say exactly how one forms or operates. It also tends to emphasise distortion and can under-predict the many occasions when memory is accurate.
Encoding — schemas direct attention toward schema-relevant information and can insert expected details that were never actually present. They make understanding faster but can bias what enters memory.
Storage and retrieval — when we recall, we reconstruct the memory using our schema, so gaps are filled with 'what usually happens', and details that clash with the schema may be dropped or altered.
Supporting study — Bartlett (1932), 'War of the Ghosts'. Aim: to see how prior knowledge affects recall of an unfamiliar story. Procedure: British participants read a Native American folk tale, then reproduced it repeatedly over time. Findings: with each retelling the story became shorter and was distorted to fit Western schemas — unfamiliar details were omitted or changed (e.g. 'canoes' became 'boats'). This supports schema theory because it shows memory is reconstructive and shaped by existing frameworks.
Alternative supporting study — Brewer and Treyens (1981). Participants waited in an 'office', then recalled its contents; many falsely 'remembered' books (expected in an office schema) that were not there, and forgot schema-inconsistent items. This again shows schemas add and filter details at retrieval.
Watch the command term. 'Explain' and 'describe' SAQs ask you to give an accurate, detailed account of the model or theory and link ONE study to it — they do NOT ask for strengths and weaknesses. Save evaluation for the extended-response question. In an SAQ, evaluating burns time you don't have and earns no extra marks; describing-and-linking is what pays.
Common mistakes examiners penalise
Confusing the MSM and the WMM — the MSM has one passive STM store; the WMM breaks that store into a central executive plus subsystems. Blending the two (e.g. putting a 'phonological loop' inside the MSM) shows the models are not understood.
Naming a study without describing it — 'Baddeley and Hitch did a study' is a bare mention. The top band needs aim, procedure and findings.
Describing a study but never linking it — a floating study, however accurate, stays in the middle band. Add the sentence 'this supports the model because...'.
Evaluating in an SAQ — strengths and weaknesses belong in the ERQ. In an SAQ they waste time and gain nothing.
Just listing components — 'The WMM has a central executive, a phonological loop...' with no explanation of what each does is only listing. Explain each component's function to move up the bands.
Treating a model as a fact — models are simplified, testable representations, not literal maps of the brain. Writing as if the boxes are real brain regions weakens accuracy.
Worked examples
See the formulas applied — reveal one step at a time, like the exam.
SAQ: Explain the working-memory model of memory. [9 marks]
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Model answer: The working-memory model (Baddeley and Hitch, 1974) explains short-term memory not as a single passive store but as an active system for holding and manipulating information. It has a central executive, an attentional controller that directs focus and shares limited resources between the subsystems but has no storage of its own. The phonological loop deals with sound and language, using a phonological store (the 'inner ear') and an articulatory process (the 'inner voice') to rehearse it. The visuo-spatial sketchpad (the 'inner eye') holds and manipulates visual and spatial information. The episodic buffer, added in 2000, integrates information from the other components and links to long-term memory.
Paper 1 SAQ: Explain one model of memory with reference to one study. [9 marks]
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Model answer (multi-store model + Glanzer and Cunitz): One model of memory is the multi-store model (Atkinson and Shiffrin, 1968), which describes memory as a linear flow of information through three separate stores. Sensory memory registers information from the senses for a fraction of a second; only information that receives attention passes on. Short-term memory (STM) then holds about 7 ± 2 items for roughly 18-30 seconds, encoded mainly acoustically, and information is lost by decay or displacement unless rehearsed. Through elaborative rehearsal, information is transferred to long-term memory (LTM), which has potentially unlimited capacity and duration and is encoded mainly by meaning; it can later be retrieved back into STM.
How it all connects
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Glossary
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Quick check
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Revision flashcards
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What is cognitive processing?
The mental processes by which we take in, transform, store and use information — including attention, perception, memory and retrieval. Because these processes cannot be observed directly, they are studied through models and controlled experiments.
Key takeaways
Review these before you close the topic — retrieval beats re-reading.
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Sensory memory — registers everything the senses detect (iconic for vision, echoic for sound) for a fraction of a second. Only what receives ATTENTION passes on; the rest fades.
- ✓
Short-term memory (STM) — limited capacity (approx. 7 ± 2 items) and duration (approx. 18-30 seconds), encoded mainly acoustically. Information is lost by decay or displacement unless it is rehearsed.
- ✓
Long-term memory (LTM) — potentially unlimited capacity and duration, encoded mainly semantically (by meaning). Information reaches LTM through elaborative rehearsal and can be retrieved back into STM when needed.
- ✓
Supporting study — Glanzer and Cunitz (1966). Aim: to test whether STM and LTM are separate stores. Procedure: participants recalled lists of words either immediately or after a filled 30-second delay. Findings: immediate recall produced a serial-position curve with strong primacy (first items, rehearsed into LTM) and recency (last items, still in STM) effects; a delay wiped out the recency effect but left primacy intact. This double dissociation supports the MSM's claim of two distinct stores.
Practice — then mark it
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Get a Paper 1 SAQ marked: explain one model of memory with reference to one study
Get a Paper 1 SAQ marked: explain one model of memory with reference to one study
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