Cognitive Architectures for AI Agents

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Overview

Cognitive architectures study how to organize an agent’s perception, memory, goals, reasoning, and actions so it can behave coherently over time. Approaches range from symbolic and BDI-style systems, state machines, and global-workspace models to LLM-based agents with memory, tools, reflection, and specialized components; many combine these methods with learning or embodied control. Researchers evaluate them on long-horizon tasks such as navigation, household and mobile-device control, tool use, multi-agent coordination, and robot deployment, while also examining safety and human oversight. A central challenge is making agents persistent, grounded, and reliable without sacrificing adaptability, efficiency, or interpretability; adding cognitive modules alone does not guarantee better performance.

Latest papers

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86 papers8 papers in the last four weeks, down 53% on the four weeks before. 0.0% of all new papers.

  1. Why Cognitive Robotics Matters: Lessons from OntoAgent and LLM Deployment in HARMONIC for Safety-Critical Robot Teaming

    Mar 20, 2026Sanjay Oruganti, Sergei Nirenburg, Marjorie McShane +5Cognitive Architectures for AI AgentsLarge Language Model-Based Robot Planning

    Cognitive Science Department, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY 12180, USA. · University of Georgia, Athens, GA, 30605, USA. · Aerospace Engineering and Engineering Mechanics, University of Texas at Austin, TX, US.

  2. How Psychological Learning Paradigms Shaped and Constrained Artificial Intelligence

    Mar 18, 2026Alex Anvi Eponon, Ildar Batyrshin, Christian E. Maldonado-Sifuentes +1Cognitive Architectures for AI AgentsCompositional Generalization

    Centro de Investigación en Computación (CIC), Instituto Politécnico Nacional (IPN), Mexico City, Mexico.

  3. Sensi: Learn One Thing at a Time -- Curriculum-Based Test-Time Learning for LLM Game Agents

    Mar 18, 2026Mohsen ArjmandiLLM AgentsGame-Playing Agents

    Independent Researcher (CTO, evolutionID)

  4. Adaptive Workflow Intelligence: A Cognitive Architecture for Context-Driven Enterprise Automation

    Mar 18, 2026Sreedevi Pandiyath ViswambaranCognitive Architectures for AI AgentsWorkflow Automation

    Georgia Institute of Technology

  5. Computational Concept of the Psyche

    Mar 16, 2026Anton Kolonin, Vladimir KrykovCognitive Architectures for AI AgentsArtificial General Intelligence

    Novosibirsk State University, Pirogova 1, 630090, Novosibirsk, Russia · Aigents, Pravdy 6, Novosibirsk, 630090, Russia · SingularityNET Foundation, Baarerstrasse 141, Zug, 6300, Switzerland +1

  6. Why AI systems don't learn and what to do about it: Lessons on autonomous learning from cognitive science

    Mar 16, 2026Emmanuel Dupoux, Yann LeCun, Jitendra MalikCognitive Architectures for AI AgentsLifelong Learning Agents

    FAIR at META · École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales · NYU +1

  7. Brain-Inspired Graph Multi-Agent Systems for LLM Reasoning

    Mar 16, 2026Guangfu Hao, Yuming Dai, Xianzhe Qin +1Multi-Agent LLM SystemsLLM Reasoning with Graphs

    Laboratory of Brain Atlas and Brain-inspired Intelligence, Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CASIA) · School of Artificial Intelligence, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (UCAS) · University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (UCAS) +2

  8. A Two-Dimensional Framework for AI Agent Design Patterns: Cognitive Function and Execution Topology

    Mar 16, 2026Jia Huang, Joey Tianyi ZhouAI Agent ArchitectureLLM Agent Orchestration

    Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), Singapore · Centre for Frontier AI Research (CFAR), A*STAR

  9. StatePlane: A Cognitive State Plane for Long-Horizon AI Systems Under Bounded Context

    Mar 13, 2026Sasank Annapureddy, John Mulcahy, Anjaneya Prasad ThamataniLLM Context ManagementPersistent Memory for Language Models

  10. Nurture-First Agent Development: Building Domain-Expert AI Agents Through Conversational Knowledge Crystallization

    Mar 11, 2026Linghao ZhangLLM AgentsCognitive Architectures for AI Agents

    Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Wireless Communications Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications (NJUPT) Nanjing, Jiangsu, China

  11. AutoAgent: Evolving Cognition and Elastic Memory Orchestration for Adaptive Agents

    Mar 10, 2026Xiaoxing Wang, Ning Liao, Shikun Wei +2Self-Evolving AgentsMemory-Augmented Language Model Agents

    MemTensor (Shanghai) Technology Co., Ltd. · Institute for Advanced Algorithms Research, Shanghai. · Shanghai Jiao Tong University

  12. The DIME Architecture: A Unified Operational Algorithm for Neural Representation, Dynamics, Control and Integration

    Mar 7, 2026Ionel Cristian Vladu, Nicu Bizdoaca, Ionica Pirici +2Computational Cognitive ModelingCognitive Architectures for AI Agents

    Department of Electromechanics, Environment and Applied Informatics, Faculty of Electrical Engineering, University of Craiova, 200440 Craiova, Romania · Department of Mechatronics and Robotics, Faculty of Automation, Computers and Electronics, University of Craiova, 200440 Craiova, Romania · Department of Human Anatomy, University of Medicine and Pharmacy of Craiova, 200349 Craiova, Romania +2

  13. BioLLMAgent: A Hybrid Framework with Enhanced Structural Interpretability for Simulating Human Decision-Making in Computational Psychiatry

    Mar 5, 2026Zuo Fei, Kezhi Wang, Xiaomin Chen +1Computational Cognitive ModelingMental Health

    School of Computer Science and Technology, East China Normal University, 3663 North Zhongshan Road, Shanghai 200062, China · Department of Computer Science, Brunel University of London, UB8 3PH, UK · Department of Computer Science, University of Reading, RG6 6UR, UK

  14. From Language to Action: Can LLM-Based Agents Be Used for Embodied Robot Cognition?

    Mar 3, 2026Shinas Shaji, Fabian Huppertz, Alex Mitrevski +1Large Language Model-Based Robot PlanningLanguage Model-Based Control

    Institute of AI and Autonomous Systems (A2S), Hochschule Bonn-Rhein-Sieg, Sankt Augustin, Germany · Fraunhofer Institute for Intelligent Analysis and Information Systems, Sankt Augustin, Germany

  15. K^2-Agent: Co-Evolving Know-What and Know-How for Hierarchical Mobile Device Control

    Feb 28, 2026Zhe Wu, Donglin Mo, Hongjin Lu +7LLM Agent Skill LearningRL for GUI Agents

    Department of Computer Science and Technology, Tsinghua University · Huawei Noah’s Ark Lab · Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences

  16. Monotropic Artificial Intelligence: Toward a Cognitive Taxonomy of Domain-Specialized Language Models

    Feb 27, 2026Antonio de Sousa Leitão Filho, Allan Kardec Duailibe Barros Filho, Fabrício Saul Lima +2Structural EngineeringLanguage Modeling

    Aia Context, São Luís, MA, Brazil · Federal University of Maranhão, São Luís, MA, Brazil

  17. Artificial Agency Program: Curiosity, compression, and communication in agents

    Feb 27, 2026Richard CsakyAgentic AIEmbodied AI

  18. The Auton Agentic AI Framework

    Feb 27, 2026Sheng Cao, Zhao Chang, Chang Li +3Agentic AILLM Agent Orchestration

  19. ReCoN-Ipsundrum: An Inspectable Recurrent Persistence Loop Agent with Affect-Coupled Control and Mechanism-Linked Consciousness Indicator Assays

    Feb 26, 2026Aishik SanyalMachine ConsciousnessCognitive Architectures for AI Agents

    Independent Research Engineer

  20. Cognitive Models and AI Algorithms Provide Templates for Designing Language Agents

    Feb 26, 2026Ryan Liu, Dilip Arumugam, Cedegao E. Zhang +3LLM AgentsMulti-Agent LLM Systems

    Department of Computer Science, Princeton University · Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology · Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute and Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University +2

  21. Architecting AgentOS: From Token-Level Context to Emergent System-Level Intelligence

    Feb 24, 2026ChengYou Li, XiaoDong Liu, XiangBao Meng +1Cognitive Architectures for AI AgentsLLM Context Management

    Yishu Research · Fukuoka Institute of Technology, Japan · National University of Singapore

  22. Evaluating Theory of Mind and Internal Beliefs in LLM-Based Multi-Agent Systems

    Feb 24, 2026Adam Kostka, Jarosław A. ChudziakMulti-Agent LLMsMulti-Agent Collaboration

    Warsaw University of Technology, Poland

  23. A Bayesian Mirror Architecture for Emergent Consciousness: Circular Hierarchies, Self-Manifolds, and Hybrid Event-Self Binding

    Feb 22, 2026Eduardo Righi Capanema de AlmeidaMachine ConsciousnessCognitive Architectures for AI Agents

    Computational Mathematics, UFMG

  24. PEPA: a Persistently Autonomous Embodied Agent with Personalities

    Feb 21, 2026Kaige Liu, Yang Li, Lijun Zhu +1Cognitive Architectures for AI AgentsEmbodied AI

    School of Artificial Intelligence and Automation, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, China, and also with Shanghai Innovation Institute, Shanghai 200231, China · School of Computer Science, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China · School of Artificial Intelligence and Automation, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, China, and also with the State Key Laboratory of Intelligent Manufacturing Equipment and Technology, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, China +1

  25. EDU-MATRIX: A Society-Centric Generative Cognitive Digital Twin Architecture for Secondary Education

    Feb 21, 2026Wenjing Zhai, Jianbin Zhang, Tao LiuDigital TwinsHuman Behavior Simulation

    The High School Affiliated to Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China · Department of Electronic and Communication Engineering, North China Electric Power University, Hebei, China

  26. HiVAE: Hierarchical Latent Variables for Scalable Theory of Mind

    Feb 18, 2026Nigel Doering, Rahath Malladi, Arshia Sangwan +2Theory of MindCognitive Architectures for AI Agents

    University of California San Diego, School of Computing, Information, and Data Sciences · New York University · University of Virginia