Abstract
Context variability refers to the number of different contexts in which words appear. In the present study, the effect of context variability on recall and recognition performance is examined using two-kanji compound words as stimuli. The results of Experiment 1 indicate that both free recall and recognition performances were better for low context variability words than for high context variability words. Similarly, Experiment 2 indicates that the effect of context variability remained, despite having controlled for the frequencies of the stimuli kanji. It is also found that words containing low-frequency kanji have higher rates of recall accuracy. Experiment 3 examines the effect of context variability by manipulating the environmental conditions at presentation and recognition. The Remember/Know procedure is introduced to distinguish between responses based on recollection with those based on familiarity. The results of the three experiments suggest that the binding of item and context information plays an important role in forming accurate recollection judgments.
