Lucy sees a boy who looks very familiar to her, but she can't remember who he is. then the boy says something with a thick french accent, and lucy suddenly realizes that he is the foreign exchange student from france. in this situation, the boy's french accent lucy remember by:

In this situation, the boy's French accent helps Lucy remember by "providing a retrieval cue".

Retrieval cues are stimuli that aid memory recovery. As it were, retrieval cues enable you to get to recollections put away in long haul memory and convey them to your cognizant mindfulness. The nearness of recovery prompts can gain recalling memories significantly less demanding.  

Retrieval cues can be external, for example, the smell of a lit light that helps you to remember your grandma's cinnamon crusty fruit-filled treat. Recovery prompts can likewise be inner, for example, sentiments of pity that help you to remember when you said a final farewell to your better half.

can you explain it better