Cognitive Psychology

What Cognitive Psychology covers

The second Paper 1 topic, built around memory. It covers the working memory and multi-store models, episodic and semantic memory, reconstructive memory and schema theory, and the experimental methods, inferential statistics and case-study work that cognitive research relies on.

The 28 subtopics

Each one has its own page.

• The working memory modelRecall questions on the central executive, phonological loop, visuo-spatial sketchpad and episodic buffer, and the dual-task evidence that supports them.Open →
• The multi-store model of memoryRecall questions on the sensory register, short-term and long-term stores, their capacity, duration and encoding, and the role of rehearsal.Open →
• Episodic and semantic long-term memoryRecall questions on Tulving's distinction, procedural memory, and the patient evidence that separates the three types.Open →
• Reconstructive memory and schema theoryRecall questions on schemas, Bartlett's War of the Ghosts, and levelling, sharpening and rationalisation in serial reproduction.Open →
• Individual differences in memoryRecall questions on processing speed, the effect of schemas on reconstruction, and highly superior autobiographical memory.Open →
• Developmental psychology in memoryRecall questions on Sebastián and Hernández-Gil's finding that memory span grows from age 5 to about 17, how dyslexia impairs memory span and working memory, and the progressive memory decline of Alzheimer's disease.Open →
• Laboratory and field experimentsRecall questions on what distinguishes laboratory, field and natural experiments, and the trade-off between control and ecological validity.Open →
• Independent and dependent variablesRecall questions on identifying and operationalising each variable, conditions of the IV, and why a correlation has neither.Open →
• Experimental and null hypothesesRecall questions on writing each hypothesis, why the null is retained rather than proved, and why falsifiability matters.Open →
• One-tailed and two-tailed testsRecall questions on directional and non-directional hypotheses and how to word them, when each is chosen, when one-tailed and two-tailed tests are used, and why a one-tailed test has more power at the same significance level.Open →
• Experimental designsRecall questions on repeated measures, independent groups and matched pairs, and the strengths and weaknesses of each.Open →
• Operationalisation, extraneous and confounding variablesRecall questions on extraneous variables, operationalisation and why it matters for replication, confounding variables, the difference between an extraneous and a confounding variable, and an example of a confound in a memory experiment.Open →
• Order effects and counterbalancingRecall questions on practice and fatigue effects, counterbalancing, randomisation, and why counterbalancing balances rather than removes.Open →
• Situational and participant variablesRecall questions on what each is, which design is vulnerable to which, and how standardisation and random allocation reduce them.Open →
• Objectivity, reliability and validityRecall questions on internal, predictive and ecological validity, test-retest and inter-rater reliability, and why a measure can be reliable but not valid.Open →
• Demand characteristics and experimenter effectsRecall questions on how participants work out the aim, the please-you effect, experimenter expectancy, and single- and double-blind procedures.Open →
• Measures of central tendency and dispersionRecall questions on choosing and calculating the mean, median and mode, the range, percentages, calculating and interpreting standard deviation, significant figures and order-of-magnitude checks, and normal, positively skewed and negatively skewed distributions.Open →
• Graphical presentation of dataRecall questions on bar charts and histograms, when bars touch, scattergrams, and how a graph should be labelled.Open →
• Mann-Whitney U and WilcoxonRecall questions on the four inferential tests, when Spearman's rho, Mann-Whitney U and Wilcoxon are used, the design each test requires, when a non-parametric test is chosen, the U and T formulae, and the observed-against-critical-value rule.Open →
• Significance, critical values and errorsRecall questions on probability and levels of significance, observed and critical values and what the tables require, sense checking, one-tailed decisions, type I and type II errors, standard form, and the symbols used in statistical conclusions.Open →
• Case studies of brain-damaged patientsRecall questions on Henry Molaison, the qualitative data a case study yields, and the strengths and weaknesses of the method.Open →
• Classic study: Baddeley (1966)Recall questions on the acoustic and semantic similarity conditions, what each showed about short- and long-term coding, and the study's limitations.Open →
• Contemporary study: Schmolck et al. (2002)Recall questions on the patients, the semantic tasks used, what the lateral temporal damage explained, and how it builds on the HM case.Open →
• Contemporary study: Steyvers and Hemmer (2012)Recall questions on the naturalistic scenes used, the pattern of intrusions, and how it qualifies Bartlett's conclusions about schemas.Open →
• Contemporary study: Sebastián and Hernández-Gil (2012)Recall questions on the developmental pattern of digit span, why Spanish spans are shorter, and what the word-length effect shows.Open →
• Key question in cognitive psychologyRecall questions on memory in dementia as a key question, what it affects first, and how the multi-store model, long-term memory types, retrieval cues and reconstructive memory inform care, with eye-witness testimony and revision as further key questions.Open →
• Practical investigation in cognitive psychologyRecall questions on designing an experiment, the decisions to settle before running it, the analysis to report, and how to evaluate it.Open →
• Issues and debates in cognitive psychologyRecall questions on laboratory artificiality, machine reductionism, ethics in case-study work, cultural bias, and how cognitive psychology is applied.Open →

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Take Cognitive Psychology further

The same content, four other ways.

Questions from this topic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

1. 1

   Who proposed the working memory model and in what year?

   Model answer

   Baddeley and Hitch in 1974.

2. 2

   What concept did the working memory model replace or provide an alternative to?

   Model answer

   The concept of a unitary short-term store.

3. 3

   What are the three main functions of the central executive in working memory?

   Model answer

   Directing attention, coordinating the slave systems, and allocating processing resources.

4. 4

   What are the two sub-components of the phonological loop?

   Model answer

   The phonological store and the articulatory rehearsal process.

5. 5

   Why might someone struggle to remember a phone number while also trying to mentally rehearse a shopping list?

   Model answer

   Both tasks require the phonological loop, creating competition for the same limited-capacity component of working memory.

6. 6

   What are the four components of the working memory model?

   Model answer

   The central executive, the phonological loop, the visuo-spatial sketchpad and, added later, the episodic buffer.

What is inside Levo

Six ways to work the same material.

Cognitive Psychology revision questions

What does Cognitive Psychology cover in Edexcel A-Level Psychology?

28 subtopics: the working memory model, the multi-store model of memory, episodic and semantic long-term memory, reconstructive memory and schema theory, individual differences in memory, developmental psychology in memory, laboratory and field experiments, independent and dependent variables, experimental and null hypotheses, one-tailed and two-tailed tests, experimental designs, operationalisation, extraneous and confounding variables, order effects and counterbalancing, situational and participant variables, objectivity, reliability and validity, demand characteristics and experimenter effects, measures of central tendency and dispersion, graphical presentation of data, mann-whitney u and wilcoxon, significance, critical values and errors, case studies of brain-damaged patients, classic study: baddeley (1966), contemporary study: schmolck et al. (2002), contemporary study: steyvers and hemmer (2012), contemporary study: sebastián and hernández-gil (2012), key question in cognitive psychology, practical investigation in cognitive psychology and issues and debates in cognitive psychology. Each one has its own page with questions and model answers.

How is Cognitive Psychology organised?

By the Edexcel 9PS0 specification, subtopic by subtopic, so it matches the order you are taught it in.