recollection

/ˈrɛkəˌlɛkʃən/

/rɛkəˈlɛkʃən/

Other forms: recollections

Recollection is either the process of remembering something or a specific memory.

If someone says, "To the best of my recollection, I never met Ted," they're saying they tried to remember Ted and couldn’t. Basically, your memory is your recollection. You can also say your memories are recollections. You could have a recollection of a baseball game on your birthday. If you know that collecting is to gather things, it makes sense that recollecting is like the process of gathering your memories.

Definitions of recollection

1. noun

   the process of remembering (especially the process of recovering information by mental effort)
   synonyms: recall, reminiscence

   types:

   mind

   recall or remembrance

   reconstruction, reconstructive memory

   recall that is hypothesized to work by storing abstract features which are then used to construct the memory during recall

   reproduction, reproductive memory

   recall that is hypothesized to work by storing the original stimulus input and reproducing it during recall

   regurgitation

   recall after rote memorization

   type of:

   memory, remembering

   the cognitive processes whereby past experience is remembered
2. noun

   the ability to recall past occurrences
   synonyms: anamnesis, remembrance

   type of:

   memory, retention, retentiveness, retentivity

   the power of retaining and recalling past experience
3. noun

   something recalled to the mind
   type of:

   memory

   something that is remembered