QCE Psychology - Unit 3 - Memory

Memory models, systems and brain

Compare multi-store, working-memory and levels-of-processing models; distinguish memory systems, capacity, duration and retrieval tasks; connect them to brain evidence.

Part of the free QCE Psychology notes library for Unit 3: Memory.

Updated 2026-08-08 - 4 min read

Memory is not one container. Models explain different parts of encoding, short-term processing and long-term retention; brain evidence shows that memory functions are distributed across partly specialised systems.

The multi-store model

The multi-store model separates sensory memory, short-term memory (STM) and long-term memory (LTM). Attention supports transfer from sensory memory to STM; rehearsal supports continued short-term retention and can contribute to long-term learning; retrieval brings stored information into active use.

Typical classroom estimates are approximate rather than universal constants:

| Store | Capacity | Duration | Important qualification | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Iconic sensory memory | very large momentary visual input | fractions of a second | rapidly overwritten | | Echoic sensory memory | substantial auditory trace | several seconds | supports continuity of speech and sound | | STM | limited, often described in meaningful chunks | roughly seconds without active maintenance | varies with material, strategy and task | | LTM | extremely large | potentially lifelong | accessibility and accuracy vary |

The model is useful for flow and duration, but treating STM and LTM as single uniform stores is too simple.

The working-memory model

Working memory explains active short-term processing:

• central executive: allocates attention and coordinates processing
• phonological loop: temporarily maintains and rehearses speech-based information
• visuospatial sketchpad: temporarily maintains and manipulates visual-spatial information
• episodic buffer: integrates information across components and links working memory with long-term knowledge

Dual-task findings can support partly separate components when two tasks interfere less if they use different resources. The central executive remains harder to define and measure than a literal control centre.

Levels of processing

The levels-of-processing approach emphasises how information is encoded. Structural processing focuses on appearance, phonemic processing on sound, and semantic processing on meaning. Elaborative semantic processing often supports stronger later retention because it creates more associations and retrieval routes.

“Deep” is not a physical location. It describes processing that engages meaning and elaboration. Maintenance repetition can keep material active, but repetition alone does not guarantee durable learning.

Long-term memory systems

Explicit memory is consciously reportable:

• episodic memory: personally experienced events situated in context
• semantic memory: general knowledge and meanings

Implicit memory influences performance without necessarily requiring conscious recollection:

• procedural memory: skills and habits
• priming: prior exposure changes later processing
• classically conditioned responses

The categories are useful distinctions, but a real task may recruit several systems.

Brain systems for memory

The hippocampus is important for forming and organising new explicit memories. Neocortical networks support distributed long-term representations. The amygdala modulates memory for emotionally significant material. The cerebellum contributes to implicit conditioned responses and skill-related learning; basal-ganglia circuits contribute to habits and procedural learning.

A lesion can dissociate performance—for example, impaired formation of new explicit memories alongside retained skill learning. Such evidence supports multiple systems, but lesions rarely affect only one microscopic process.

Recall, recognition and relearning

Recall produces information with minimal direct cues. Recognition identifies previously encountered information among alternatives. Relearning measures how much faster material is learned again than initially.

Recognition is often easier because the target itself provides a cue, but poorly designed alternatives can make it difficult. Relearning can reveal retention even when conscious recall appears weak.

Worked example: diagnose the model, not just the store

Model evaluation

Models are evaluated by explanatory power, testable predictions and fit with converging evidence. The working-memory model refined a single-store account by explaining active components. Later revisions, including the episodic buffer, show that models can change rather than being accepted or rejected as complete packages.

Ageing can affect processing speed, working-memory efficiency and episodic retrieval, while semantic knowledge may remain comparatively resilient. Avoid treating normal ageing and neurodegenerative disease as equivalent.

Try it yourself

Common exam traps

• quoting one fixed STM capacity as universally exact
• treating working memory as a synonym for STM
• saying semantic processing guarantees permanent memory
• swapping episodic and semantic memory
• locating all long-term memories inside the hippocampus
• calling recognition “remembering without cues”

Sources

• QCAA Psychology 2025 v1.3 syllabus
• Baddeley and Hitch (1974), Working Memory60452-1)
• OpenStax Psychology 2e: How Memory Functions
• OpenStax Psychology 2e: Parts of the Brain Involved with Memory

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