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Active recall is a principle of efficient learning, which says that we need to actively stimulate memory in the learning process. It is an opposite to passive review in which the learning material is processed passively (e.g. by reading, watching, etc.).

For example, when you read a text about George Washington, this is passive review.

If you answer a question "Who was the first US President?", this is active recall.

Active recall is many times more efficient in consolidating long-term memory. This is why just reading your study notes before exam is not likely to leave a long-lasting memory trace. On the other hand, if you ask your colleague to test you on the same material, the results will be better in the long run. Alternatively you can also use quizzes or multiple choice questions if they are available.

Because our recall of a memory may be influenced by its position within a sequence of self-test questions it can be advantageous to randomise the order of those questions. This could be done for instance by putting questions and answers in a spreadsheet and sorting them by values produced by a randomisation function. Flashcards are also often used to stimulate active recall in education.

It is at the start of a learning task that active recall tasks need to be at their most frequent for retention. As long term memories form, rates of testing can be reduced. Recognition of this fact may aid efficient learning.

For more information on improving memory see Mnemonics.

[edit] References

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Memory
Types of memory
Auditory memory | Autobiographical memory | Collective memory | Early memories | Echoic Memory | Eidetic memory | Episodic memory | Explicit memory  |Exosomatic memory | False memory |Flashbulb memory | Iconic memory |Institutional memory | Long term memory | Procedural memory | Prospective memory |Repressed memory |Retrospective memory | Semantic memory |Sensory memory | Short term memory |Spatial memory | State-dependent memory | Verbal memory  | Visual memory  | Tonal memory | | Working memory  |
Aspects of memory
Childhood amnesia | Cryptomnesia |Cued recall | Eye-witness testimony | Memory and emotion | Forgetting |Forgetting curve | Free recall |Levels-of-processing effect |Memory consolidation |Memory decay | Memory distrust syndrome |Memory inhibition | Memory and smell | Memory loss | Memory optimization | Memory trace | Mnemonic | Memory biases  | Tip of the tongue |Lethologica | Priming | Proactive interference | Prompting | Recency effect | Recall (learning) | Recognition (learning) | Reminiscence | Retention | Retroactive interference | Source amnesia |
Memory theory
Memory encoding | Baddeley | Memory-prediction framework | Memory consolidation | Forgetting | Recall | Recognition | Atkinson-Shiffrin | Interference theory | Memory-prediction framework | Dual-coding theory |Decay theory |
Mnemonics
Method of loci | Mnemonic room system | Mnemonic dominic system | Mnemonic link system |Mnemonic major system | Mnemonic peg system | [[]] | [[]] | [[]] |[[]] |
Neuroanatomy of memory
Amygdala | Hippocampus | prefrontal cortex  | Neurobiology of working memory | Neurophysiology of memory | Rhinal cortex | [[]] |[[]] |
Neurochemistry of memory
Glutamatergic system  | [[]] | [[]] |[[]] | [[]] | [[]] | [[]] | [[]] |[[]] |
Memory in clinical settings
Alcohol amnestic disorder | Amnesia | Dissociative fugue | False memory | Hyperthymesia | Memory and aging | Memory disorders | Repressed memory | Traumatic memory |
Assessment of memory
Benton | CAMPROMPT  MAS | MERMER | Rey-15 | Rivermead | TOMM | Wechsler | WMT |
Treating memory problems
CBT | EMDR | Psychotherapy | Recovered memory therapy |Reminiscence therapy |Memory clinic | Rewind technique |
Prominant workers in memory|-
Baddeley | Broadbent |Ebbinghaus  | Kandel |McGaugh | Schacter  | Treisman | Tulving  |
Philosophy and historical views of memory
Aristotle | [[]] |[[]] |[[]] |[[]] | [[]] | [[]] | [[]] |
Miscellaneous
Journals | Learning, Memory, and Cognition |Journal of Memory and Language |Memory |Memory and Cognition | [[]] | [[]] | [[]] |

This page uses content from the English-language version of Wikipedia. The original article was at Active recall. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with Psychology Wiki, the text of Wikipedia is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.