A-Level Psychology: Forgetting and Eyewitness Testimony

Forgetting and eyewitness testimony form the applied half of the memory topic — the part with real courtroom stakes, which is exactly how exam questions frame it. This quiz covers the explanations of forgetting and the full eyewitness research programme.

The forgetting questions distinguish the two compulsory explanations. Interference is tested through the proactive/retroactive contrast with scenario diagnosis — old learning disrupting new versus new disrupting old. Retrieval failure is built on the encoding specificity principle: recall improves when the cues present at encoding return at retrieval, tested through both context-dependent and state-dependent cases, with state-dependent forgetting defined precisely as an internal-state mismatch.

The eyewitness questions cover the classic research: the leading-questions finding that verb intensity shifts speed estimates upward, post-event discussion and memory conformity — with both its informational and normative routes examined — and the conclusion that memory is reconstructive, actively altered by information encountered after the event. Anxiety gets the two-sided treatment the specification requires: the weapon focus effect narrowing attention, and the inverted-U relationship between arousal and recall accuracy.

The cognitive interview closes the set: its components tested as a group (context reinstatement, report everything, changed perspective, reverse order) and the changed-perspective technique examined for its rationale — disrupting schema-driven recall.

Each explanation names the principle and its implication for real testimony, which is precisely the application skill extended-writing questions reward. Pairs with the Memory Models quiz for full topic coverage.

Diagnose proactive vs retroactive interference in scenarios
Apply the encoding specificity principle to context- and state-dependent forgetting
Explain the leading-questions and post-event-discussion findings and memory conformity
Analyse anxiety's effects: weapon focus and the inverted-U relationship
List and justify the four components of the cognitive interview

Practice material written by Zestly on forgetting and eyewitness testimony, following the AQA A-level Psychology (7182) topic list as an example: interference and retrieval failure, and the factors affecting eyewitness testimony (leading questions, post-event discussion, anxiety) with the use of the cognitive interview.

Sample question

In the context of interference theory, which of the following scenarios best illustrates proactive interference?

A student forgets the list of words they learned in the morning after learning a similar list in the afternoon.
A student struggles to remember their new Spanish vocabulary because they keep recalling the French vocabulary they learned last year.
A student forgets their old phone number after memorising their new one for several months.
A student cannot recall the middle of a list of words because they are focused on the beginning and end of the list.

See the answer

A student struggles to remember their new Spanish vocabulary because they keep recalling the French vocabulary they learned last year.

Proactive interference occurs when older memories (French) disrupt the recall of newer, similar information (Spanish). Forgetting an old phone number after learning a new one is retroactive interference, where new information disrupts old information.

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