In this paper, we explore the hypothesis that episodic memory is a critical component for cognitive architectures that support general intelligence. Episodic memory overlaps with case-based reasoning (CBR) and can be seen as a taskindependent, architectural approach to CBR. We define the design space for episodic memory systems and the criteria any implementation must meet to be useful in a cognitive architecture. We present an implementation and demonstrate how episodic memory, combined with other components of a cognitive architecture, supports a wealth of cognitive capabilities that are difficult to attain without it.
Andrew Nuxoll, John E. Laird