While standing in the checkout line, Shamus starts to panic when he realizes he cannot remember his debit card PIN. The idea, "mom's birthday" pops into his mind and immediately after, he is able to recall the PIN. What did he use to recall his PIN?
Retrieving refers to the recovering of information for use. In that respect, the working memory maintains and operates on data retrieved from the long-term memory for temporary use. Therefore, retrieval cues involve words or other stimuli which help recover and bring to mind information stored in the memory system.
