### abstract ###
i describe and discuss the sometimes heated controversy surrounding the recognition heuristic rh as a model of inferential decision making
after briefly recapitulating the history of the rh up to its current version  i critically evaluate several specific assumptions and predictions of the rh and its surrounding framework  recognition as a memory-based process  the rh as a cognitive process model  proper conditions of testing the rh  measures of using the rh  reasons for not using the rh  the rh as a non-compensatory strategy  evidence for a less-is-more effect lime  and the rh as part of the toolbox
the collection of these controversial issues may help to better understand the debate  to further sharpen the rh theory  and to develop ideas for future research
### introduction ###
as one of the simplest heuristics in the  adaptive toolbox   CITATION   the recognition heuristic rh exploits recognition and may reach a high level of accuracy in inferential decisions
for example  if asked which of two cities is larger  a or b  and given one recognizes a  but not b  one may simply follow the recognition cue and infer that a is the larger city
in domains in which the probability of recognizing an object is substantially related to its criterion value here the city's size  such a simple strategy will lead to many correct answers  far above chance
goldstein and gigerenzer  CITATION  formulated this strategy as the recognition heuristic and defined it as using only one piece of evidence  namely recognition of the two objects yes no
no other knowledge about the objects enters the inference process and could possibly overturn the decision based on recognition
the rh thus represents a case of a non-compensatory  one-reason decision-making strategy
especially this claim has raised some controversy in the past decade and has led to a multitude of new empirical findings
in other words  besides providing a precisely formulated and thus testable model  one merit of the rh certainly is that it challenged quite a number of researchers  and-as a consequence-extended our knowledge of how inferential decision making may proceed
a new and exciting set of such studies are included in jdms special issue on  recognition processes in inferential decision making   CITATION
in the following section section  NUMBER   i recapitulate the basic features of the rh and its underlying assumptions  looking at its precursors and its fully laid-out version
in the main part of the paper section  NUMBER   i then discuss in detail the main points of the controversy surrounding the rh and its framework
note that i do not try to provide a complete review of all theoretical arguments exchanged so far  CITATION
