Recognition would then allow us to make inferences about these other characteristics. Specifically, if we have heard of one object but not another, this can be an indication that the objects differ in other respects as well. In other words, recognition may often (but not always) be useful because it can tell us something about the objects in question. It would be much less surprising for Watson to have never heard of Moriarty if Moriarty were insignificant. That’s what puts him on a pinnacle in the records of crime.” Holmes thus implies that extraordinary things usually cannot avoid being heard of and thus being recognized by many people.

In describing Moriarty to Watson, Holmes asks Watson, “You have probably never heard of Professor Moriarty?” “Never.” “Aye, there’s the genius and the wonder of the thing! The man pervades London, and no one has heard of him. In Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Final Problem, Sherlock Holmes finally faces his arch enemy, Professor Moriarty. Finally, we discuss how systematic ignorance is exploited in other cognitive mechanisms (e.g., estimation and preference). We suggest that the recognition heuristic is used adaptively and that, compared to other cues, recognition seems to have a special status in decision making.

Moreover, we summarize developments concerning the connection of the recognition heuristic with memory models. After we contrast the recognition heuristic to other related concepts, including availability and fluency, we carve out, from the existing findings, some boundary conditions of the use of the recognition heuristic as well as key questions for future research. We review research addressing four key aspects of the recognition heuristic: (a) that recognition is often an ecologically valid cue (b) that people often follow recognition when making inferences (c) that recognition supersedes further cue knowledge (d) that its use can produce the less-is-more effect – the phenomenon that lesser states of recognition knowledge can lead to more accurate inferences than more complete states. The proposal of the heuristic initiated a debate about the processes underlying the use of recognition in decision making. The recognition heuristic is a prime example of how, by exploiting a match between mind and environment, a simple mental strategy can lead to efficient decision making.

3 Adaptive Behavior and Cognition, Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Berlin, Germany.

2 Cognitive Science Program, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, USA.

1 Department of Psychology, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland.

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