"Recept" (pronounced /ˈriːˌsɛpt/) is a term used in the work of 19th-century psychologist George Romanes to refer to an idea that is formed by the repetition of percepts (i.e., successive percepts of the same object).^[1] The idea is similar to that of concatenated impressions, as seen in the work of David Hume. It is also associated with the concepts of "construct" and "influent".^[2]

In the book Mental Evolution of Man, Romanes introduced recept to support his argument that Charles Darwin's theory of the origin of language is valid by presenting more evidence from philology.^[3] In his conceptualization, recept denotes the process, which involves memory, that transpires when a human child as a "higher animal" is faced with a sensory situation it perceives as familiar.^[3] This familiarity elicits a response based on its meaning and significance.^[3] Romanes also stated that, recept or a receptual thought is a compound idea - one the differs from a general or abstract idea - of past similar perceptions.^[4] It has been interpreted as an idea that one is not aware he has.^[4] It is noted that recept is not widely embraced because Romanes book is so little read.^[3] The term is used in Richard Maurice Bucke's book, Cosmic Consciousness: A Study in the Evolution of the Human Mind. Bucke was a 19th-century Canadian psychiatrist.