Recognition

Literally, "knowing again". Here, (a) an equivocation of signals or messages sent at different times, (b) an equivalence relation established by an observer between a current observation and a class of previous observations, (c) the representation of a current state, condition or property by terms previously used for representing similar states, conditions or properties. Pattern recognition involves the application of decision procedures to determine whether two patterns are the same, different or of what kind each is. From an observer's perspective (b) is accomplished by the use of identical terms or names for categories as in (c). The definitions differ merely in emphasis on the consequence or the process of perception respectively. (Krippendorff)