Paul's Memory Challenge
Paul is confident that he will be able to remember what his new roommate, Sam, looks like at the crowded new-student orientation, even though he'd only met Sam briefly several months earlier. Paul remembers that Sam is of average height, has brown hair, and wears contacts. He also remembers that Sam likes the same video games that he does and has the same interests in books and music. Paul especially remembers that he and Sam both have pet black cats named "Spade." Because Paul has encoded so much information about Sam, Paul will actually be less likely to recognize Sam because Sam looks and acts too normally, be more likely to recognize Sam than if he had just remembered that Sam had brown hair, not be able to recognize Sam at all, or be surprised that Sam is not as he had remembered him to be. He memorized all of the wrong things about Sam.
What is a Context clue?
Any kind of hint or idea reflected from the statements which helps the reader to understand the clear context in which the word is used is refers to a context clue. This clue helps the reader to determine the appropriate meaning.