Memory as input, processing, output
Memory is described as a fixed sequence: input, then processing, then output. Input is information entering through the senses. Processing is everything the brain does with it — encoding, storage and retrieval sit inside this stage. Output is the response produced. The model makes memory testable: the researcher controls the input and measures the output. Name the stage and say what happens at it, not just where it sits in the sequence.
Encoding: change into a holdable form
Encoding is changing information into a form the memory system can hold, as it cannot be kept in its raw form. Three forms: visual (an image), acoustic (a sound, e.g. repeating a number) and semantic (a meaning). It is the first process, so nothing is stored or retrieved until it happens, and how it is encoded affects recall — meaning is easier to retrieve than a sound or shape. Encoding is not input: input is information arriving, encoding is converting it.
Storage keeps it; retrieval gets it back
Storage and retrieval are the second and third processes. Storage is holding encoded information over time so it stays available after the event; retrieval is locating it and bringing it back into use. Hold the three apart: encoding gets it in, storage keeps it there, retrieval gets it out. A failure to answer could be at any of the three, so name which failed. Proof they are separate: producing a word only once cued shows it was in storage, so retrieval alone failed.
Drawn from real examiner reports.
Tautological definitions score zero
Asked what a term means, candidates repeat the word: "retrieval is when you retrieve information." Nothing is explained, so no mark is given, and this catches all six terms. A definition must add what the word omits — for retrieval, locating stored information and bringing it into use. Cover the term and reread; if the sentence stops making sense, you defined it with itself.
Tautological definitions of a memory term earn nothing (Nov 2020 P1 Q6); the state-a-feature variant answered by defining the term is at June 2023 P1 Q6.
Input ≠ encoding (arriving vs converting)
These two terms are constantly swapped. Input is information arriving through the senses; encoding is the brain converting that information into a form memory can hold. The order fixes them — input first, when information reaches you; encoding next, once the system works on it. So "input is changing information into a usable form" really describes encoding.
Two definitions is not a difference
Asked for the difference between storage and retrieval, many write two definitions side by side and stop. The difference is only implied, so it scores one mark; the second needs a comparative connective — whereas, while, in contrast — that sets the two against each other. On 2-mark describe items, avoid one point twice reworded; make the second genuinely different.
Describe-the-difference items answered as two separate definitions score one mark; connectives such as "whereas" earn the second (June 2019 P1 Q6; June 2022 P1 Q7, Q22). A 2-mark describe needs two unique points (June 2023 P2 Q22).
Retrieval ≠ output (invisible vs observable)
Retrieval and output are easily merged. Retrieval is locating stored information and bringing it into use — internal and invisible. Output is the observable response then produced. The test: could someone watching see it happen? Retrieval could not; output is what a researcher records. So "output is when you retrieve the answer" wrongly merges the two.
Processing is the stage, not encoding
Processing is the whole middle stage of the sequence. Encoding is only one of the three processes inside it, alongside storage and retrieval. Treating the two as the same loses marks: a question on processing expects all three, one on encoding only the conversion step. Processing is the container; the three processes sit inside it.
Storage holds, retrieval gets it back
Storage is holding information across time; retrieval is getting it back out. The two can come apart: information can be in storage yet still fail to be retrieved. Recalling a name only once given its first letter proves it was stored all along — retrieval alone failed. So a memory failure is not automatically a storage failure; name which of the two broke down.
Memory is not a passive recording
Memory is not a video camera whose recording is erased when we forget. It is active — information is changed at encoding, not copied — and a failure can occur at encoding, storage or retrieval, so not answering does not reveal which. Producing a word once cued shows it was in storage, so retrieval alone failed. So "they forgot it" is never complete.
Tie the process to the scenario detail
On a scenario, the described behaviour is the only source of AO2 marks; the name or the stem does not count. Tie a specific behaviour to a named process — recalling a word only once cued shows retrieval failed. AO3 needs AO2 present, so apply first, then evaluate.
The 9-mark Assess needs AO3 and balance
The 9-mark Assess is AO1 3, AO2 3, AO3 3; the top band is lost through weak AO3 and balance. Define the processes, link each to a scenario detail, argue both sides (objectivity, validity, generalisability), then conclude from your points. Continuous prose, not bullet points.
Answer the command word asked
Match the answer to the command word. "State" wants the term only. "Describe" (2 marks) wants two unique points, not one reworded twice. "Explain" wants the point applied to the scenario. Defining the term when asked to "state one feature" scores nothing.
A position is not a definition
Saying where a stage sits — "input is the start" — locates it but does not define it; a position alone scores nothing. A definition says what happens there: input is information arriving through the senses. When you name a stage, add the process that occurs at it.
Input — the information that enters the memory system from the environment, taken in through the senses.
Processing — everything the brain does with that information once it has arrived. Encoding, storage and retrieval all happen inside this stage.
Output — the response the person produces as a result of processing, such as saying, writing or doing something.
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