Recall

Recall is a cognitive process that involves the retrieval of information from memory. In psychology, recall is a type of memory retrieval that requires individuals to access and bring forth previously encoded and stored information.

Types of Recall

There are three main types of recall: free recall, cued recall, and serial recall.

• Free Recall - This type of recall involves retrieving information without the use of cues. It is often tested by asking individuals to list as many items from a list as they can remember.

• Cued Recall - This type of recall involves using cues to aid retrieval. The cues can be semantic, such as a category name, or associative, such as a word that was presented in the same context as the target word.

• Serial Recall - This type of recall involves retrieving items in the order in which they were presented.

Factors Affecting Recall

Several factors can affect recall, including the serial position effect, state-dependent memory, and mood-dependent memory.

• Serial Position Effect - This refers to the finding that recall accuracy varies as a function of an item's position within a study list.

• State-Dependent Memory - This refers to the phenomenon where people are more likely to recall information if their physical or mental state is the same at encoding and retrieval.

• Mood-Dependent Memory - This refers to the phenomenon where people are more likely to recall information if their mood at encoding and retrieval is the same.

Recall in Psychology

In psychology, recall is a key component of many cognitive tasks, including memory tests, problem solving, and decision making. It is also a key component of episodic memory, which is the memory of autobiographical events.

See Also

• Memory
• Recognition (psychology)
• Forgetting
• Eyewitness memory
• List of memory biases

Recall Resources
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