# Memory Is Communication: The Frontier Between Remembering and Signaling

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2608.17053 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2608.17053/

## Key facts

- No citing papers in the map yet (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 6 of its 10 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 17 Aug 2026.

## Builds on (most cited first, 6 of 6)

- [Continual Lifelong Learning with Neural Networks: A Review](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1802.07569/) (2018)
- [Learning Efficient Multi-agent Communication: An Information Bottleneck Approach](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1911.06992/) (2019)
- [AgentsNet: Coordination and Collaborative Reasoning in Multi-Agent LLMs](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2507.08616/) (2025)
- [Toward a Theory of Hierarchical Memory for Language Agents](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2603.21564/) (2026)
- [From Signals to Structure: How Memory Architecture Drives Language Emergence in LLM Agents](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2607.00233/) (2026)
- [LoopBench: Discovering Emergent Symmetry Breaking Strategies with LLM Swarms](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2512.13713/) (2025)

## Abstract (arXiv)

A bounded agent may obtain information for a decision from its own past, from peers, or from both sources. Retaining task-relevant history can reduce later communication, while a peer message can supply what memory lacks. Under limits on both resources, how should an agent allocate its information budget? Given a fixed task and decision rule, the memory and message rate pairs attaining a performance threshold form an achievable region under specified rules for using history and peer observations. We call its efficient boundary the remembering--signaling frontier. Across conditions where history permits the same maximum reduction in task loss, we hypothesize that a bounded agent will need less peer communication when it obtains a larger loss reduction from history. In preliminary referential games, target repetition coincided with shorter successful messages, while predictability from a hidden cyclic rule did not shorten them. Experiments varying memory and message rates can estimate the frontier and test this prediction across cooperative tasks.