I have RecyclerView having an ImageView and a TextView for each row layout.In ViewHolder in RecyclerViewAdapter, I have click listener as
v.setOnClickList
Try this use recyclerView.getLayoutManager().findViewByPosition(int position) to get particular row of recyclerView
View row = recyclerView.getLayoutManager().findViewByPosition(0);
TextView textView = row.findViewById(R.id.YourTextviwID);
textView.setText("Nilu");
ImageView textView = row.findViewById(R.id.YourImageViewID);
imageView.setBackgroundResource(R.mipmap.ic_launcher);
NOTE :- only item that is display in screen when you scroll recyclerView than item will removed from memory
EDIT :- you can write a public method in adapter to get your arraylist in your activity where you can check your flag