unaided recall

Research technique used to test the effectiveness of advertisements and commercials and to learn whether respondents are familiar with a particular brand, slogan, or other facet of an advertising campaign. Respondents are asked questions such as "What program did you watch last night?" or "What commercials or advertisements do you remember seeing?" and their answers are noted. In this technique, respondents are not prompted in their responses as they are in aided recall. However, it should be noted that unaided recall is really a relative term, since recall seldom, if ever, happens spontaneously and some amount of cueing is necessary to conduct the research.