“Recognition over recall” is a principle that induces a sense of familiarity in design to reduce the cognitive load required to accomplish a goal. Recognition memory relies on cues whereas recall memory requires more cognitive effort. Since recall memory is not always accurate, designing to take advantage of recognition and familiarity of certain objects can cue a person to take an action.
Example 1 – Original Source
This difference in the command line interface vs graphical user interface shows the ease of use between recognition amongst presented options and recalling naturally.
Source: Universal Principles of Design by William Lidwell, Kritina Holden, Jill Butler (2010).
Example 2 – Online
This is how Google’s autocomplete function provides recognition cues to help people after the first recall word.
Source: www.Google.com
Example 3 – In Person
This is a voting ballot with the names of the candidates written for the ease of recognition as opposed to recalling the names naturally.