mlsanityData to 7 Oct 2026

Memory Matters More: Event-Centric Memory as a Logic Map for Agent Searching and Reasoning

arXiv 2601.04726 ↗First posted 8 Jan 2026cs.AI cs.CLcited by 17

On the map: LLM reasoning → Reasoning for agents, planning and code

also in 1 more
Abstract (arXiv)

Large language models (LLMs) are increasingly deployed as intelligent agents that reason, plan, and interact with their environments. To effectively scale to long-horizon scenarios, a key capability for such agents is a memory mechanism that can retain, organize, and retrieve past experiences to support downstream decision-making. However, most existing approaches organize and store memories in a flat manner and rely on simple similarity-based retrieval techniques. Even when structured memory is introduced, existing methods often struggle to explicitly capture the logical relationships among experiences or memory units. Moreover, memory access is largely detached from the constructed structure and still depends on shallow semantic retrieval, preventing agents from reasoning logically over long-horizon dependencies. In this work, we propose CompassMem, an event-centric memory framework inspired by Event Segmentation Theory. CompassMem organizes memory as an Event Graph by incrementally segmenting experiences into events and linking them through explicit logical relations. This graph serves as a logic map, enabling agents to perform structured and goal-directed navigation over memory beyond superficial retrieval, progressively gathering valuable memories to support long-horizon reasoning. Experiments on LoCoMo and NarrativeQA demonstrate that CompassMem consistently improves both retrieval and reasoning performance across multiple backbone models.

Key facts. Cited by 17 papers in the map (data through 7 Oct 2026). Placed in Reasoning for agents, planning and code, one of 17 directions in LLM reasoning. Builds on 17 of its 24 references that are in the map. First posted on arXiv 8 Jan 2026.

Builds on

17 of 24 references.

Closest ancestors · 1

Same direction, newest first

  1. 2025Hierarchical Memory for High-Efficiency Long-Term Reasoning in LLM Agents23 Jul

Other references · 16

  1. 2023A Survey on Large Language Model based Autonomous Agentscited by 2,203
  2. 2023MemGPT: Towards LLMs as Operating Systemscited by 1,295
  3. 2025A-MEM: Agentic Memory for LLM Agentscited by 1,000
  4. 2024Evaluating Very Long-Term Conversational Memory of LLM Agentscited by 800
  5. 2024A Survey on the Memory Mechanism of Large Language Model based Agentscited by 622
  6. 2017The NarrativeQA Reading Comprehension Challengecited by 590
  7. 2025Zep: A Temporal Knowledge Graph Architecture for Agent Memorycited by 372
  8. 2025Memory in the Age of AI Agentscited by 285
  9. 2025LightMem: Lightweight and Efficient Memory-Augmented Generationcited by 163
  10. 2025From Human Memory to AI Memory: A Survey on Memory Mechanisms in the Era of LLMscited by 119
  11. 2025MemGen: Weaving Generative Latent Memory for Self-Evolving Agentscited by 99
  12. 2025MemEvolve: Meta-Evolution of Agent Memory Systemscited by 81
4 more
  1. 2024From Isolated Conversations to Hierarchical Schemas: Dynamic Tree Memory Representation for LLMscited by 77
  2. 2025General Agentic Memory Via Deep Researchcited by 42
  3. 2025SGMem: Sentence Graph Memory for Long-Term Conversational Agentscited by 29
  4. 2025CAM: A Constructivist View of Agentic Memory for LLM-Based Reading Comprehensioncited by 23

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Cited by year (2026 to 7 Oct)

Citing papers per year: 2026: 17.

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  1. 2026Anatomy of Agentic Memory: Taxonomy and Empirical Analysis of Evaluation and System Limitationscited by 20
  2. 2026Mem-T: Densifying Rewards for Long-Horizon Memory Agentscited by 14
  3. 2026Coding Agents are Effective Long-Context Processorscited by 11
  4. 2026SAM: State-Adaptive Memory for Long-Horizon Reasoning Agentcited by 10
  5. 2026Query-focused and Memory-aware Reranker for Long Context Processingcited by 6
  6. 2026Beyond Semantic Organization: Memory as Execution State Management for Long-Horizon Agentscited by 6
  7. 2026MemSifter: Offloading LLM Memory Retrieval via Outcome-Driven Proxy Reasoningcited by 3
  8. 2026AgentFugue: Agent Scaling for Long-Horizon Tasks through Collective Reasoningcited by 3
  9. 2026MemCoT: Test-Time Scaling through Memory-Driven Chain-of-Thoughtcited by 2
  10. 2026R^2-Mem: Reflective Experience for Memory Searchcited by 2
  11. 2026Zero-Mem: Zero-Token Memory Operations for LLM Agentscited by 2
  12. 2026AgentSpec: Understanding Embodied Agent Scaffolds Through Controlled Compositioncited by 1
5 more
  1. 2026Harness the Memory: A Holistic Evaluation of Memory Substrates in Memory Agentscited by 1
  2. 2026CABLE: Extending the Reach of Memory Retrieval via Complementary Antecedent-Based Linking and Expansioncited by 1
  3. 2026Event-Centric World Modeling with Memory-Augmented Retrieval for Embodied Decision-Makingcited by 0
  4. 2026MemFuse: Multi-Source Memory Fusion from Fragmented Observationscited by 0
  5. 2026EdgeMem: LLM-Free Agent Memory Construction and Retrieval via Evidence-Preserving Multi-Anchor Hypergraphcited by 0

Similar, not cited

Close in wording, no citation either way

  1. 2026REMem: Reasoning with Episodic Memory in Language Agent
  2. 2026ActMem: Bridging the Gap Between Memory Retrieval and Reasoning in LLM Agents
  3. 2026MemWeaver: Weaving Hybrid Memories for Traceable Long-Horizon Agentic Reasoning
  4. 2026Organize then Retrieve: Hierarchical Memory Navigation for Efficient Agents
  5. 2026AMA-Bench: Evaluating Long-Horizon Memory for Agentic Applications
  6. 2025Hindsight is 20/20: Building Agent Memory that Retains, Recalls, and Reflects
  7. 2026MemCog: From Memory-as-Tool to Memory-as-Cognition in Conversational Agents
  8. 2026EverMemOS: A Self-Organizing Memory Operating System for Structured Long-Horizon Reasoning