What factors affect the accuracy of memory and why do we forget?
Factors affecting the accuracy of memory: interference, context and false memories, plus theories of forgetting including interference and retrieval failure.
A focused answer to AQA GCSE Psychology 3.1, covering factors that affect the accuracy of memory such as interference, context and false memories, and explanations of forgetting including interference and retrieval failure.
Reviewed by: AI editorial process; not yet individually human-reviewed
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What this dot point is asking
AQA wants you to explain factors that affect how accurate memory is, including interference, context and false memories, and to describe two explanations of forgetting: interference and retrieval failure. This is part of the Memory topic in Paper 1, where the reliability of memory and its application to eyewitness testimony are common targets.
Explanations of forgetting
- Interference: older learning can disrupt newer learning, or newer learning can disrupt older learning. Similar information is most likely to interfere, for example confusing two similar phone numbers or mixing up the rules of two similar games.
- Retrieval failure: the memory is stored but cannot be recalled because the necessary cues are missing. Bringing back the right cue, such as returning to the place where you learned something, often restores the memory. This is the "tip of the tongue" experience, where the memory is clearly there but out of reach.
Other factors affecting accuracy
Why this matters
Because memory can be distorted by interference, missing cues and false information, eyewitness accounts and personal recollections should be treated with caution. This is one of the most practical applications of memory research: police and courts have changed how witnesses are questioned (for example, avoiding leading questions) precisely because suggestive questioning can create false memories.
Try this
Q1. Define interference as an explanation of forgetting. [2 marks]
- Cue. Forgetting caused by one memory disrupting another, especially when they are similar.
Q2. Explain how context can improve recall. [2 marks]
- Cue. Recall is better when the environment at retrieval matches the environment at learning, because it provides cues.
Q3. Identify one way a false memory can be created. [1 mark]
- Cue. Through misleading post-event information or leading questions.
Exam-style practice questions
Practice questions written in the style of AQA exam questions on this dot point, with worked answer explainers. The year tag is the paper they imitate, not the source.
AQA 20194 marksExplain the difference between interference and retrieval failure as explanations of forgetting. (Paper 1, Section B)Show worked answer →
A 4-mark Explain item rewards a clear account of each explanation plus the contrast between them.
Interference is forgetting that happens because one memory disrupts another, especially when the two memories are similar; the memory may be damaged or blocked by the competing memory. Retrieval failure is forgetting that happens because the right cues are not available at the time of recall; here the memory is still stored intact but cannot be accessed without the cue. The key difference is that in interference the memory is disrupted, whereas in retrieval failure the memory is available but inaccessible, so providing the right cue can bring it back.
Markers reward both definitions and the contrast (disrupted versus simply not retrieved), ideally with an example such as similar phone numbers interfering, or remembering a word once given a prompt.
AQA 20214 marksDescribe how false memories can be created and why this matters for eyewitness testimony. (Paper 1, Section B)Show worked answer →
A 4-mark item that rewards a description of false memories plus an applied consequence.
A false memory is a recollection of an event, or details of an event, that did not actually happen. They can be created when misleading information is added after the event, for example through leading questions or hearing other people's accounts, which becomes blended into the original memory so the person confidently recalls details that were never there. This matters for eyewitness testimony because a witness may sincerely report inaccurate details after suggestive questioning, which could lead to a wrongful identification.
Markers reward the definition, a mechanism (misleading post-event information or leading questions), and the application to the reliability of eyewitnesses.
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Sources & how we know this
- AQA GCSE Psychology (8182) specification — AQA (2017)