The paper presents an approach to combine knowledge from memory and brain sciences with information retrieval research in the design of Web agents. An information retrieval agent for classification of Web pages based on genre features is used. In developing the agent to adapt to users’ search preferences, a neuro-cognitive model of human episodic memory is employed. ies show that neuro-realistic models, capable of abstraction of meaningful fragments of knowledge, rather than snapshots of the retrieved Web pages, are closer to the human way of interacting with the Web and can be used for optimization of agent performance.