111 Recognition Over Recall

Memory for recognizing things is better than memory for recalling things.

• Recognition is easier than recall because recognition tasks provide cues that facilitate a memory search.

• The principle is often used in interface design. For example, early computers used command line interfaces, which required recall memory for hundreds of commands. Modern computers use graphical user interfaces with commands in menus, which only require recognition of desired commands.

• Decision making is also influenced by recognition. Familiar options are selected over unfamiliar options, even when the unfamiliar option may be the best choice. Recognition of an option is often a sufficient condition for making a choice.

• Minimize the need for recall whenever possible. Use menus, decision aids, and similar strategies to make available options clear and visible.

See Also Mere-Exposure Effect • Performance Load • Visibility

On December 9, 1968, Douglas Engelbart gave “The Mother of All Demos”, which laid the foundation for user interfaces based on recognition over recall. This not only made computers easier to use, it enabled them to become mass-market products.