GCSE Psychology: Memory & Perception Revision

Memory & Perception is a core part of GCSE Psychology. Revise the key concepts and common mistakes below, then lock them in with the free games.

Key concepts

Multi-store modelAtkinson and Shiffrin's 1968 model of memory with sensory register, short-term and long-term stores.

EncodingThe process of converting information into a form that can be stored in memory (acoustic, visual, semantic).

Bartlett (1932)War of the Ghosts study showed memory is reconstructive; participants altered the story to fit their own schemas.

Peterson and Peterson (1959)Found STM duration is around 18 seconds when rehearsal is prevented using trigrams.

Retrieval failureForgetting due to absence of cues; explained by Tulving's encoding specificity principle.

InterferenceForgetting because one memory blocks another, causing distortion; proactive or retroactive.

Reconstructive memoryMemory built using schemas, not recorded exactly.

Schema (memory)Mental shortcut that fills gaps in recall.

Gestalt principlesRules the brain uses to organise visual input.

SimilarityGestalt law: similar items grouped together.

ProximityGestalt law: nearby items grouped together.

ClosureGestalt law: brain fills in gaps to see whole shapes.

Eyewitness testimonyEvidence given by a witness about an event.

Leading questionA question that subtly suggests an answer.

Questions where students often pick the tempting wrong answer — make sure you know the right one:

Is memory like an accurate video recording?✗ Yes, it stores events exactly as they happened. ✓ No — memory is reconstructive and can be distorted.

Are short-term and long-term memory the same store?✗ Yes, they are one single store. ✓ No — STM is small and brief; LTM is vast and long-lasting.

Test yourself with these quick revision games for this topic: