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arXiv · 2605.27389

Memory-Based vs. Context-Only Conditioning Produces Distinct Behavioral Patterns in Stateful Personalization

Junsoo Park·Youssef Medhat·Htet Phyo Wai·Ploy Thajchayapong·Ashok K. Goel
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Abstract

We study how conditioning context shapes personalization behavior in a teacher-facing educational recommender system. We compare contextual conditioning based on the current student question with memory-based conditioning using persistent learner information. Using deviation correlation and paired statistical tests, we find that contextual recommendations exhibit stronger question-level responsiveness, while memory-based recommendations exhibit history-dependent behaviors, including learner-specific differentiation under identical input. Teacher-facing evaluation signals suggest these recommendations are interpretable and actionable. These results indicate that embedding-based similarity metrics capture responsiveness to the current question but do not characterize personalization grounded in learner history, motivating behavior-level diagnostics for studying conditioning effects.

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Junsoo Park, Youssef Medhat, Htet Phyo Wai, Ploy Thajchayapong, Ashok K. Goel. 2026-04-14. Memory-Based vs. Context-Only Conditioning Produces Distinct Behavioral Patterns in Stateful Personalization. https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.27389

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