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Recognition Memory Test

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  • First Online:
Encyclopedia of Clinical Neuropsychology

  • 76 Accesses

Synonyms

Forced-choice test; Yes/no recognition

Definition

Recognition memory testing refers to a test format in which previously presented material is subsequently re-presented by the examiner along with new material. Items may be presented one at a time, in which case the task is to indicate for each trial whether the item was encountered previously in a particular context (yes/no recognition). Another common format involves presentation of the old item together with new items (termed foils or distractors). The task in this case is to indicate whichof the items had been encountered previously (forced-choice recognition). Recognition memory tests may differ on a number of variables, including the modality (visual or auditory), material (verbal or nonverbal), or test format (yes/no or forced choice), of the information being tested. Although recognition memory is typically easier than free recall, the difficulty level may be manipulated by increasing the similarity between target and...

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, York University, Toronto, ON, Canada

    Jill B. Rich

Authors
  1. Jill B. Rich
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Correspondence to Jill B. Rich .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, USA

    Jeffrey S. Kreutzer

  2. Kessler Foundation, Pleasant Valley Way, West Orange, NJ, USA

    John DeLuca

  3. Independent Practice, Wynnewood, PA, USA

    Bruce Caplan

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Rich, J.B. (2018). Recognition Memory Test. In: Kreutzer, J.S., DeLuca, J., Caplan, B. (eds) Encyclopedia of Clinical Neuropsychology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-57111-9_1148

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