When selected, TotalView looks in the current scope to determine if it contains a variable with the same name as the variable that was used when the Variable Window was first created. If TotalView finds one, it displays information about it in the Variable Window even though it scope is not the same as what originally existed.
For example, if you are use the variable i as a loop counter in many places, the Variable Window will always display the in-scope variable when this is set. Similarly, if you are displaying Variable Windows for stack variables in a recursive function, the Variable Window will show information for the current recursive routine.