Compare and contrast recall and recognition. Why does one task appear to be easier than the other? What processes are involved?

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

In recall tasks, you must produce a fact, word or other item from memory.
In recognition tasks, you must select or otherwise identify an item as being one that you learned previously. Recognition memory is usually much better than recall: We are better at recognizing things than at producing what exactly we saw or heard.

Some psychologists refer to recognition-memory tasks as tapping receptive knowledge. Receptive means "responsive to a stimulus.". In a recognition-memory task, you respond to stimuli presented to you and decide whether you have seen them before or not. Recall-memory tasks, in which you have to produce an answer, require expressive knowledge. Differences between receptive and expressive knowledge also are observed in areas other than that of simple memory tasks (e.g., language, intelligence, and cognitive development).