Recall

Recall is a term with several established meanings across disciplines. In cognitive psychology, recall refers to retrieving information from memory. This can take the form of free recall, where material is reproduced in any order, or cued recall, where prompts aid retrieval. Recall is often contrasted with recognition, which involves identifying previously encountered items. Factors such as encoding depth, rehearsal, and retrieval cues influence how readily information can be recalled, and phenomena like the serial position effect can affect performance.

In statistics and information retrieval, recall is a measure of a model’s ability to identify relevant items. It is defined as the proportion of actual positives that are correctly retrieved: recall = true positives divided by (true positives plus false negatives). Recall is also called sensitivity in some contexts. It is commonly considered alongside precision, which measures the correctness of retrieved items, and together they help evaluate overall performance through metrics like the F1 score.

In consumer safety and public policy, a recall is a request to return or fix a product that may pose a health or safety risk. Recalls can be voluntary or mandated by regulatory authorities such as the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission or the Food and Drug Administration. Actions may include repair, replacement, refunds, or disposal, and recalls are typically categorized by severity, with higher classes indicating greater risk.

Across these uses, recall denotes retrieval, restoration, or corrective action aimed at reinstating safety, accuracy, or memory.