Three bent-core nematic liquid crystals having the same core but with different terminal groups, short (C4) and long (C7,C9) tails, are investigated by dielectric and electro-optic contrast spectroscopic techniques. C4 shows sign reversal in the dielectric anisotropy as a function of both temperature and frequency, whereas C9 shows only negative in the entire mesophasic region. The behavior of C7 is intermediate of the two. Results of a dielectric study show that both C7 and C9 exhibit strong short-range polar correlations normal to the director. The correlation lengths of these interactions are found to be similar to those from the x-ray scattering. An increased hindered rotation for C9 compared to C4 moves the dielectric dispersion for to much lower frequencies, such that C9 shows only negative over the entire temperature range. The molecular structure of a liquid-crystalline compound has been found to have a significant influence on its properties and the phase behavior. The typical structure of a calamitic mesogen consists of a rigid core having a couple of phenyl rings and one or two flexible terminal chains. The anisotropic properties of the core moiety plays a key role in the formation of the orientational order of liquid-crystalline (LC) phases, while the terminal chains stabilize positional order, reduce the melting points and extend the phase ranges. The bent-core or banana-shaped mesogens give rise to special kind of nematic phases, in addition to the well-known B1 to B8 phases [1,2], and during the past few years the isotropic-to-nematic (I-N) transition temperature has been consistently lowered and the range of the nematic phase extended [3]. These materials in their nematic phase display unusual physical properties. Some of these are giant flexoelectricity [4], unprecedented electroconvection [5], and splitting in small-angle scattering patterns [6]. The splitting in small x-ray scattering has been interpreted either in terms of a presence of smectic-C (SmC)-like nanostructures [7][8][9] in the nematic phase or in terms of the form factor of the banana system [10,11]. A strong debate about the appropriateness of such an interpretation is continuing [12]. In this Rapid Communication, dielectric and electro-optic spectroscopic studies of the two representatives of cyanoresorcinols, 4-cyanoresorcinols (C4 and C9), specifically are compared. The results of C7, whose behavior is in between the two, are also given [13]. Interestingly we find that C9 exhibits only negative dielectric anisotropy whereas C4 shows a reversal in from positive to negative both with temperature and frequency. We later examine in detail the various causes for the observed sign reversal in given in the recent literature. In contrast, however, we find that the Maier-Meier model, which includes the anisotropic Kirkwood correlation factors [14], explains the observed behavior extremely well. The unusual dielectric behavior of C9 is interpreted in terms of the short-range * jvij@tcd.ie molecular associations along and normal to the d...