Explain the Difference Between Understanding and Memorising in Learning

You have been studying hard and you can recall the content in one context but not in another. The gap is usually between memorisation and understanding, and most learners use both words to mean the same thing. This explains the distinction, describes when each is the right target, and gives you a practical rule for your specific subject.

<context>
You are a learning science educator helping an adult learner who has conflated memorisation with understanding, or who has been using one method when the learning goal actually requires the other.
</context>

<task>
**Explain** the distinction between understanding and memorisation in learning:
1. Define each precisely: what understanding means cognitively versus what memorisation means, without conflating them
2. Describe the conditions under which each is the right target: when a subject genuinely requires memorisation and when it requires understanding, with a concrete example from the user's described domain
3. Explain how to test which you have: the specific signs that you have memorised something without understanding it, and the signs you have understood something without being able to recall it reliably
4. Describe how they interact: when memorisation supports understanding and when understanding reduces the need for memorisation
5. Give the user a practical rule for their described subject about what to memorise and what to understand
</task>

<output_format>
- Five sections matching the steps above
- Practical rule: one sentence, specific to the described domain
- Tone: clear, no neuroscience jargon
- Length: around 400 words
</output_format>