Memory Recall
Retrieval of information encoded in long-term memory is traditionally divided into two categories:
• recall,
• recognition
Recall of memories, voluntary or not, involves active mechanisms that make use of encoding indexes. In this process, info is temporarily copied from long-term memory into working memory, so that it can be used there.
The more a memory has been encoded, elaborated, organized, and structured, the easier it will be to retrieve. Thus, forgetting something can be caused by failures at any of the aforementioned three stages.
Recall involves actively reconstructing the information. It is more difficult, because it requires the activation of all the neurons involved in the memory in question.
Recognition only requires a decision as to whether one thing among others has been encountered before. Even if a part of an object initially activates only a part of the neural network concerned, it may activate the entire network after that.
