memory

Definition

Mechanisms for carrying information beyond the immediate input — external stores queried by retrieval, recurrent state, or summaries written back into the context. It matters because context windows are finite and expensive, so long-running agents and conversations need somewhere to put what does not fit. Watch the ambiguity: efficiency papers often mean GPU RAM, not a cognitive component.

Explainers using this term

• Paper Explained: WorldCrafter — A Video World Model That Remembers What You Saw, via Camera-Queryable MemoryWorldCrafter: Consistent Video World Model with Implicit 3D-aware Memory
• Paper Walkthrough: MaP-WAM — Turning a Robot's Memory into Plans So the Executor Stays the Same Size as History GrowsMemory as Plans: World-Action Modeling with Memory-Grounded Planning
• Paper Explained: Just-in-Time Memory — Curate Agent Memory When You Read It, Not When You Write ItJust-in-Time Memory: Learning to Curate Task-Adaptive Memory for LLM Agents

In the textbook

• The Memory Hierarchy and the Memory Wall