Recognition memory is a type of declarative memory that allows a person to know if they have encountered a stimulus before. It can be processed as recollection or familiarity and can resurface memories with varying levels of detail. Recognition memory is stored in long-term memory and can be consciously recalled.
Recognition memory is the type of memory that lets a person know that a certain stimulus has been encountered before. A type of declarative memory, there are two ways this type of memory is processed: as recollection or as familiarity. In both cases, a stimulus must be presented to a person before a memory is triggered. Once a stimulus has activated a person’s recognition memory, resurfacing memories can fall anywhere along a scale from a fuzzy feeling that a certain event or stimulus has been experienced before to recalling intricate details about a past experience.
The formal study of recognition memory began in the 1800s and has continued as new discoveries are made in brain science. Early researchers claimed that people would only use recognition memory when the mind wasn’t functioning at its peak capacity. In 2011, brain scientists understand that recognition memory performs a variety of functions, as many details can be forgotten by a healthy, fully functioning brain until they are needed, when a similar or similar situation arises. At that moment, the brain is able to remember past events and the person can make decisions based on previous experience and memories that have recently been recalled.
There are two main types of recognition memory, which fall on opposite ends of a spectrum. The first is familiarity, where a person has a vague feeling that a certain stimulus or situation has already been encountered. The other type of recognition memory is recall, in which details of a past experience resurface in response to a similar new experience. The details in these memories can be vague or specific, often depending on how much detail the brain needs to make a new decision.
Recognition memory is a type of declarative memory. These memories are stored in a person’s long-term memory and can usually be recalled at will. Although recognition memory can be buried until it is stimulated, a person can consciously choose to look at portions of this information, making it different from other types of long-term memory, such as those memories that allow a person to ride a bicycle after many years without thinking about the mechanisms to do it. Memories stored in declarative memory can be recalled and examined when the need arises.
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