Retrieving information from memory and bringing it into conscious awareness is referred to as retrieval. Memory retrieval spans different types, one of them being “recall” — the free recollection of information, whereby an individual answers an essay question, for example. The activity of recognition is another type of memory retrieval, where a person is able to identify the correct information from a provided set of information, such as when one takes a multiple-choice exam. The act of retrieval may depend on the emotional and motivational state of the individual as well as contextual factors such as the environment and the specific cues available from the environment. These cues may act as “triggers” to the memory. The retrieval system also accounts for why people “forget” information, which can be explained as a temporary loss of stored information.
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