On the Structural Memory of LLM Agents

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Zeng, Ruihong, Fang, Jinyuan, Liu, Siwei, Meng, Zaiqiao
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
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author Zeng, Ruihong
Fang, Jinyuan
Liu, Siwei
Meng, Zaiqiao
author_facet Zeng, Ruihong
Fang, Jinyuan
Liu, Siwei
Meng, Zaiqiao
contents Memory plays a pivotal role in enabling large language model~(LLM)-based agents to engage in complex and long-term interactions, such as question answering (QA) and dialogue systems. While various memory modules have been proposed for these tasks, the impact of different memory structures across tasks remains insufficiently explored. This paper investigates how memory structures and memory retrieval methods affect the performance of LLM-based agents. Specifically, we evaluate four types of memory structures, including chunks, knowledge triples, atomic facts, and summaries, along with mixed memory that combines these components. In addition, we evaluate three widely used memory retrieval methods: single-step retrieval, reranking, and iterative retrieval. Extensive experiments conducted across four tasks and six datasets yield the following key insights: (1) Different memory structures offer distinct advantages, enabling them to be tailored to specific tasks; (2) Mixed memory structures demonstrate remarkable resilience in noisy environments; (3) Iterative retrieval consistently outperforms other methods across various scenarios. Our investigation aims to inspire further research into the design of memory systems for LLM-based agents.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2412_15266
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle On the Structural Memory of LLM Agents
Zeng, Ruihong
Fang, Jinyuan
Liu, Siwei
Meng, Zaiqiao
Computation and Language
Artificial Intelligence
Memory plays a pivotal role in enabling large language model~(LLM)-based agents to engage in complex and long-term interactions, such as question answering (QA) and dialogue systems. While various memory modules have been proposed for these tasks, the impact of different memory structures across tasks remains insufficiently explored. This paper investigates how memory structures and memory retrieval methods affect the performance of LLM-based agents. Specifically, we evaluate four types of memory structures, including chunks, knowledge triples, atomic facts, and summaries, along with mixed memory that combines these components. In addition, we evaluate three widely used memory retrieval methods: single-step retrieval, reranking, and iterative retrieval. Extensive experiments conducted across four tasks and six datasets yield the following key insights: (1) Different memory structures offer distinct advantages, enabling them to be tailored to specific tasks; (2) Mixed memory structures demonstrate remarkable resilience in noisy environments; (3) Iterative retrieval consistently outperforms other methods across various scenarios. Our investigation aims to inspire further research into the design of memory systems for LLM-based agents.
title On the Structural Memory of LLM Agents
topic Computation and Language
Artificial Intelligence
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2412.15266