Lesson 3.1.1.2.2

3.1.1.2.2 Coding, capacity and duration of each memory store Quiz: AQA Psychology, Unit 1

20 questions

Written by Revision Ninja · Last reviewed 11 October 2026

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Lesson 3.1.1.2.2, Coding, capacity and duration of each memory store: 20 multiple choice questions for the AQA GCSE Psychology (8182), Unit 1: Memory, written with Revision Ninja.

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The 20 questions

  1. According to the multi-store model, what type of coding does short-term memory mainly use?

    • Semantic coding, meaning information is held in terms of the meaning of the words
    • Olfactory coding, meaning information is held in terms of the smells that go with it
    • Visual coding, meaning information is held as a picture or image of the item
    • Acoustic coding, meaning information is held as the sound of the words

  2. What type of coding is mainly used in long-term memory?

    • Visual coding, meaning information is stored as an image of how the item looks
    • Acoustic coding, meaning information is stored as the sound of the spoken words
    • Semantic coding, meaning information is stored in terms of its meaning
    • Motor coding, meaning information is stored as the movements needed to perform an action

  3. What is the capacity of short-term memory, according to the multi-store model?

    • About 50 items, plus or minus 10, at any one time
    • About 20 items, plus or minus 5, at any one time
    • About 7 items, plus or minus 2
    • About 2 items, plus or minus 1, at any one time

  4. Roughly how long can information last in short-term memory without rehearsal?

    • About 18 to 30 seconds
    • About 0.5 seconds before the memory trace decays fully from the store
    • About 1 to 2 hours before the memory trace fades out from the store completely
    • About 2 to 3 minutes before the memory trace fades out from the store

  5. Roughly how long does an iconic visual image remain in sensory memory?

    • About 2 to 3 minutes before the image fades from the sensory store completely
    • Less than one second
    • About 20 to 30 seconds before the image fades from the sensory store completely
    • Several hours, until the next day, before the image fades from the sensory store

  6. Roughly how long can an echoic (sound) trace last in sensory memory?

    • About 2 to 3 minutes before the sound trace fades from the sensory store completely
    • About 2 to 3 seconds
    • About 0.2 seconds before the sound trace fades from the sensory store completely
    • About 20 to 30 seconds before the sound trace fades from the sensory store completely

  7. What is the capacity of long-term memory, as described in the multi-store model?

    • Limited to 30 seconds' worth of information, which must be replaced as new input arrives
    • Limited to about 20 items, which is the same as the capacity of the sensory store
    • Unlimited, or effectively so, because it can store very large amounts of information
    • Limited to around 7 items, plus or minus 2, in the same way as short-term memory

  8. How long can information last in long-term memory?

    • Only about 2 to 3 seconds, until the trace fades from the sensory store completely
    • Only about 18 to 30 seconds, until it is replaced by new information from the senses
    • Only about 2 to 3 minutes, until it is lost through a lack of rehearsal in class
    • Potentially a lifetime, lasting from minutes to many decades if it is not lost

  9. A student tries to remember a 10-digit number they read once. Which store capacity explains why they struggle?

    • Long-term memory holds only about 7 items, so the student cannot store the digits there
    • Sensory memory holds about 10 items, so the digits are lost after a second or so
    • Short-term memory holds about 20 items, so the digits should be easy to hold but are forgotten
    • Short-term memory holds about 7 items, so 10 digits exceed what it can hold

  10. A person hears a phone number and repeats it in their head for 15 seconds. Which store and coding are used?

    • Short-term memory with acoustic coding, because the number is held as sounds through rehearsal
    • Sensory memory with visual coding, because the number is held as an image of the digits
    • Long-term memory with acoustic coding, because the number is held as sounds for a lifetime
    • Long-term memory with semantic coding, because the number is understood as a meaning

  11. A student recalls the meaning of a building they saw in a picture. How is the building most likely coded in long-term memory?

    • Semantically, because the building is stored by its meaning and what it represents
    • Visually, because the building is stored only by how it looks in the picture shown
    • Motorically, because the building is stored by the movements needed to draw it from memory
    • Acoustically, because the building is stored by the sound of its name in the lesson

  12. A person can hold 7 numbers for a short task but not 12. Which feature of short-term memory explains this?

    • Its unlimited capacity, which is reduced by the number of rehearsal repetitions made
    • Its limited capacity of about seven items
    • Its semantic coding, which makes numbers harder to hold than words in the store
    • Its short duration of under one second for each item held in the store

  13. A man remembers a shopping list for a few minutes, then forgets it. Which store and feature explain this?

    • Short-term memory, which has a duration of about 2 hours before the items fade from the store
    • Long-term memory, which has a duration of minutes before the item decays from the store
    • Short-term memory, which has a duration of about 18 to 30 seconds without rehearsal
    • Sensory memory, which has a duration of under one second for all of the input it receives

  14. A student hears a sound from a film, which lingers briefly after it stops. Which store and duration best fit this?

    • Echoic store, holding the sound for about 2 to 3 seconds
    • Iconic store, holding the image for about 2 to 3 seconds
    • Short-term store, holding the sound for about 18 to 30 seconds
    • Echoic store, holding the sound for about 2 to 3 minutes

  15. Which statement explains why coding matters for transfer into long-term memory?

    • Acoustic coding of the sounds of words gives the strongest long-term retention of any coding type
    • Coding has no effect on retention, because the duration of the store decides everything
    • Meaningful, semantic coding tends to help information be retained in long-term memory more effectively
    • Visual coding of an item's appearance is the only form that long-term memory is able to use

  16. A researcher finds that a 15-item list is only partly recalled from short-term memory. Which explanation fits the model?

    • The list exceeds the capacity of about 7 items, so some items are lost before they are transferred
    • The list lasted longer than 30 seconds, so it passed into long-term memory and was lost there
    • The list was coded only in long-term memory, so it cannot be recalled from the short-term store at all
    • The sensory store held the items, so recall relies on iconic images which fade very quickly

  17. Which combination of store, coding, capacity and duration is correctly matched?

    • Long-term memory: semantic coding, very large capacity, very long duration
    • Short-term memory: acoustic coding, about 20 items, duration of about 2 to 3 seconds
    • Short-term memory: semantic coding, very large capacity, duration of a lifetime
    • Sensory memory: semantic coding, about seven items, duration of 18 to 30 seconds

  18. A sensory store holds an exact copy of input. What does this suggest about its coding?

    • Information is stored only as a number of items, so its capacity is fixed at about seven
    • Information has already been changed into a meaningful semantic code, so it is held for longer
    • Information is held in the form it was received, so it has not yet been coded in a meaningful way
    • Information has been rehearsed and turned into an acoustic code, so it can be transferred onward

  19. Which feature is the 'duration' of a memory store?

    • How long information can remain in that store before it is lost
    • The number of times information is rehearsed before it is moved on
    • How much information the store can hold at any one time before it is full
    • The type of code in which information is represented inside the store

  20. Which statement compares the duration of short-term and long-term memory correctly?

    • Short-term memory lasts for a lifetime, while long-term memory fades in less than a second
    • Short-term memory lasts for minutes at most, while long-term memory fades within a single day
    • Short-term memory lasts for seconds without rehearsal, while long-term memory can last for a lifetime
    • Both stores last for about the same length of time, so duration does not separate them

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