Most metallic materials and alloys show rate independence or negative rate sensitivity in some temperature region when dynamic strain aging occurs. It is generally recognized that negative rate sensitivity is an essential feature of dynamic strain aging that can depend on strain and/or strain rate. The unified viscoplasticity theory based on overstress is applied to reproduce a change of rate sensitivity type that depends on strain or strain rate. This is accomplished through the introduction of a single new term in the growth law of the equilibrium stress, which is a tensor valued state variable of the model. It is also shown that the new term can be used to reproduce a dramatic increase of rate sensitivity in dynamic plasticity.