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Unit 3: Individual thinking

9 dot points, in syllabus order. Each dot point has a focused answer, with exam-style questions and worked answers where available.

Topic 1: Brain function

Describe the structure of the human nervous system, with reference to the central (i.e. brain and spinal cord) and peripheral (i.e. somatic and autonomic) nervous systems; Describe the role of the spinal cord in the human nervous system, with reference to monosynaptic and polysynaptic spinal reflexes; Explain the interaction of the primary motor cortex, cerebellum and basal ganglia in coordinating voluntary movement; Explain the importance of the limbic system and the prefrontal cortex for the experience of emotion

The QCE Psychology Unit 3 answer on four 2025 Brain function dot points: the central and peripheral nervous systems, the spinal cord and monosynaptic versus polysynaptic reflexes, how the primary motor cortex, basal ganglia and cerebellum work together in voluntary movement, and why the limbic system and prefrontal cortex matter for emotion.

11 min read →

Describe how brain function can be viewed as both localised and distributed, with some functions being identified with specific areas in the cerebral cortex, including the frontal, occipital, parietal and temporal lobes, and some functions being distributed across large or multiple brain regions; Explain that Broca's area, Wernicke's area, and Geschwind's territory have specific roles in language processing

Localisation of function. Maps the four cortical lobes and their roles, explains hemispheric specialisation and the corpus callosum, and works through the lesion, split-brain and neuroimaging evidence (Broca, Wernicke, Sperry, Phineas Gage) that links regions to thinking.

6 min read →

Describe neurotransmission, with reference to action potentials and synaptic transmission; Contrast excitatory and inhibitory neurotransmitters, e.g. glutamate (Glu) and gamma-amino butyric acid (GABA); Describe the physical and psychological function of acetylcholine, epinephrine, norepinephrine, dopamine and serotonin; Explain the impact of interference in neurotransmitter function, with reference to Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's disease, considering causes, symptoms and treatments

The QCE Psychology Unit 3 answer on neurotransmission (2025 syllabus): action potentials and synaptic transmission, excitatory glutamate versus inhibitory GABA, what acetylcholine, epinephrine, norepinephrine, dopamine and serotonin do, and the causes, symptoms and treatments of Parkinson's and Alzheimer's disease.

12 min read →

Appreciate how plasticity assists in the recovery from brain injury

Brain trauma. Distinguishes traumatic from non-traumatic acquired brain injury, explains how damage to specific regions disrupts cognition (aphasia, spatial neglect, amnesia, personality change), and describes how neuroplasticity and rehabilitation support recovery of function.

6 min read →

Topic 2: Sensation and perception

Describe the processes of seeing and hearing, with reference to reception by accessory structures, transduction by sensory receptors and receptive fields, transmission to the CNS via the optic/acoustic nerves, preliminary processing in the thalamus, and organisation and interpretation by the primary visual/auditory cortex; Explain psychological aspects of sensation and perception including loudness, pitch and timbre; Describe the effect of cultural influences on visual (de Bruine, Vredeveldt & van Koppen 2018) and auditory (Patel & Demorest 2013) perception

The QCE Psychology Unit 3 answer on sensation and perception in the 2025 syllabus: the five stages of seeing and hearing (reception, transduction, transmission, thalamus, primary cortex), loudness, pitch and timbre, and how culture shapes visual perception (de Bruine, Vredeveldt and van Koppen, 2018) and music perception (Patel and Demorest, 2013).

11 min read →

Explain psychological aspects of sensation and perception including perceptual set with respect to past experience, context, motivation and emotional state, and visual perception principles, e.g. Gestalt principles, depth cues, and visual constancies

The QCE Psychology Unit 3 answer on the psychological aspects of perception in the 2025 syllabus: perceptual set (past experience, context, motivation, emotional state), Gestalt principles, binocular and monocular depth cues, and size, shape and brightness constancy, with illusions such as the Ames room. Also keeps background on selective and divided attention (Unit 1).

9 min read →

Topic 3: Memory

Compare three models of memory, specifically the multi-store model of memory, including sensory, short-term and long-term memory; the working memory model, including the central executive, phonological loop, visuospatial sketchpad, and episodic buffer; the levels of processing (LOP) model of memory, including the role of encoding in long-term memory; State the duration and capacity of sensory memory (including iconic and echoic), and short-term and long-term memory; Describe the role of the hippocampus, the neo-cortex and the amygdala in forming and storing explicit memories; Describe the role of the cerebellum in forming implicit memories

The QCE Psychology Unit 3 answer on models of memory in the 2025 syllabus: comparing the multi-store, working memory and levels of processing models, the duration and capacity of each store, and the roles of the hippocampus, neo-cortex, amygdala and cerebellum in explicit and implicit memory.

6 min read →

Describe how information is stored in long-term memory with reference to implicit (i.e. procedural, priming, classical conditioning) and explicit (i.e. episodic and semantic) memory; Contrast recall, recognition and relearning; Describe problems with memory such as encoding failure, retrieval failure and interference effects; Discuss strategies to improve memory, including spacing, interleaving, chunking, elaborative and maintenance rehearsal, and the method of loci; Interpret data about the context-dependency of memory from a modified experiment following Grant et al. (1998)

The QCE Psychology Unit 3 answer on the rest of the 2025 Memory topic: implicit and explicit long-term memory, recall, recognition and relearning, encoding failure, retrieval failure and interference, spacing, interleaving, chunking, rehearsal and the method of loci, and how to interpret context-dependent memory data from a Grant et al. (1998) style experiment.

12 min read →

Topic 4: Learning

Compare classical conditioning, operant conditioning and social learning theory, and discuss the underlying theories of behaviourism and social and cognitive psychology; for classical conditioning, describe learned fear responses, with reference to the 'Little Albert' experiment

Learning. Explains classical conditioning (Pavlov, Watson and Rayner's Little Albert), operant conditioning (Skinner, Thorndike's law of effect, reinforcement and punishment) and observational learning (Bandura's Bobo doll), and shows how fear can be a learnt response.

6 min read →