Showing users things they can recognize improves usability over needing to recall items from scratch because the extra context helps users retrieve information from memory.
Recognition refers to our ability to “recognize” an event or piece of information as being familiar, while recall designates the retrieval of related details from memory.
The activation of a chunk is influenced by three different factors: Practice: how many times a chunk has been used in the past Recency: how recently a chunk has been used Context: what is present in the person’s focus of attention
Common lore says that practice makes perfect. Indeed, the more you practice a piece of information, the more likely you are to remember it: a chunk’s activation depends on the amount of practice that it has received.
The connection between two chunks is called association. The concept of association is tremendously important in psychology: it forms the basis of learning and problem solving. It allows us to have a relevant conversation and it helps us discover new things. It is the link between the present (the current context in which we are) and our previous experience and history.