It is argued that adherence of the results of experiments in the recognition failure paradigm to the function observed by Tulving and Wiseman (1975) reflects the operation of two distinct processes in recognition similar to those described by Mandler (1979, 1980). Familiarity decisions based on the target word alone can occur when target and list cue have not been integrated and result in some measure of dependence between recall and recognition. Contextual retrieval can operate in recognition when integration has occurred, and is independent of success in recall. It is further contended that deviations from the Tulving-Wiseman function arise because special instructions given to subjects produce more or less cue-target integration than is normal, and differentially affect the relative proportion of items recognized via contextual retrieval and via familiarity decisions. The first part of the paper argues that the contextual retrieval involved in recognition failure experiments takes the form of an attempted backward recall of the list cue from the target, consistent with the suggestions of Rabinowitz, Mandler, and Barsalou (1977) and claims that the results of a paper by Fisher (1979) strongly support this view.