recollection

memory, remembrance, recollection, reminiscence mean the capacity for or the act of remembering, or the thing remembered. memory applies both to the power of remembering and to what is remembered <gifted with a remarkable memory> <that incident was now just a distant memory>. remembrance applies to the act of remembering or the fact of being remembered <any remembrance of his deceased wife was painful>. recollection adds an implication of consciously bringing back to mind often with some effort <after a moment's recollection he produced the name>. reminiscence suggests the recalling of usually pleasant incidents, experiences, or feelings from a remote past <my grandmother's reminiscences of her Iowa girlhood>.