Introduction
Recognition and Recall
What is Recognition and Recall?
Recognition and recall. When it comes to learning, these two terms are confused more than any others.
Here are their basic definitions:
– Recall – To actively bring a piece of information to your mind.
– Recognition – To identify something.
When you look through your textbook or study material, you are making use of recognition. You’re seeing it and then recognising it as something you know and understand. The problem with recognition is that you tend to feel like you really know something because the material is right in front of you. The reality is that most of us don’t. Instead, we are actually recognising the material and confusing this with recall.
Recall is very different to recognising. Recall requires you to close your textbook and try to remember the material without looking. It’s about removing the helpful cue of your textbook. When the textbook is gone, all of a sudden, we realise that we don’t know as much as we thought we did.
Confusing recognition with recall tricks you into believing that you know more than you do. Recalling what you learn is far more difficult than taking a look and recognising it. Without testing your recall while studying, you won’t ever know what you don’t know. That is until it comes time for the exam.
Lesson Booklet
Recognition and Recall