To recollect is, according to this view, to draw the image out of the dark vaults of unconscious mind into the upper chamber of illumined consciousness.
Modern psychology recognizes no such pigeonhole apparatus in unconscious mind.

On the purely psychical side, memory is nothing but an occasional reappearance of a past mental experience.

And the sole mental conditions of this reappearance are to be found in the circumstances of the moment of the original experience and in those of the moment of the reappearance.
Among these are to be specially noted, first of all, the degree of impressiveness of the original experience, that is to say, the amount of interest it awakened and of attention it excited.

The more impressive any experience, the greater the chances of its subsequent revival.
Moreover, the absence of impressiveness in the original experience may be made good either by a repetition of the actual experience or, in the case of non-recurring experiences, by the fact of previous mnemonic revivals.
In the second place, the pre-existing mental states at the time of revival are essential conditions.

It is now known that every recollection is determined by some link of association, that every mnemonic image presents itself in consciousness only when it has been preceded by some other mental state, presentative or representative, which is related to the image.