ABSTRACT
Dual process theory originated about 20 years ago, when the traditional view that recognition does not involve retrieval was rejected by research coming from our laboratory and from the work of Atkinson and Juola. The theory distinguishes between perceptual and conceptual processes, and accounts for such phenomena as the dissociation of familiarity and identification in recognition, similarities between priming and recognition, and some amnesic symptoms. The early development of the theory is discussed, together with some of the empirical evidence adduced for its usefulness. This is followed by the reinterpretation of the two processes in terms of the activation and the elaboration of underlying representations. Extensions of the theory to other phenomena, such as amnesic deficits and stem-completion tasks, is discussed and illustrated, followed by an analysis of some criticisms of dual process theory. The chapter concludes with a discussion of the contrast between multi-memory systems and theories that invoke different processes within a single conceptualization.
