recognising

Recognising is the cognitive process of identifying a stimulus as something previously encountered, or the act of acknowledging or crediting someone or something. It can be implicit, based on a sense of familiarity, or explicit, involving deliberate identification or praise.

In psychology, recognition memory is a component of long-term memory that enables a person to determine whether an item or event has been experienced before. It contrasts with recall, which requires reproducing information without a cue. Recognition performance can be assessed with tasks such as multiple-choice tests. Theories include familiarity-based accounts and recollection-based accounts, often framed within signal detection theory.

Recognition spans sensory domains, including facial recognition, object recognition, auditory recognition (such as spoken words), and broader pattern recognition. Neurocognitive research points to networks involving the hippocampus and perirhinal cortex in recognition memory, and to specialized pathways for faces and scenes.

Outside cognitive processing, recognition also means publicly acknowledging or rewarding an achievement, contribution, or status. In education, work, or communities, recognising individuals or groups can motivate behaviour and affirm social value.

In computing, recognition refers to pattern recognition tasks performed by algorithms and models, including computer vision, speech recognition, and handwriting recognition. These systems rely on statistical learning, feature extraction, and classification to label inputs that resemble patterns learned during training.

The term recognising derives from Latin recognoscere, literally “to know again,” with the root cognoscere meaning “to know.” Spelling varies by region, with recognising common in British English.