Rapid Prototyping of Event-Driven Contextual Memory in the ACT-Up Cognitive Architecture

The present paper describes an implementation of contextual memory and a basic event-handler for the ACT-Up cognitive architecture which maintains its scalability and appropriateness for rapid-prototyping while adding essential features and lowering the barrier to entry for new users. This includes describing a theory-neutral implementation of working memory and spreading activation, in addition to a basic associative learning mechanism. An example of rapid prototyping for algorithm development is presented using the serial memory task described in Klein, Addis, and Kahana (2025). This study describes how contiguity effects change across sequential list presentations across three serial and free recall conditions. We further describe how to use generative AI and the event handler to automatically create cognitive experiments directly from the Methods section of research papers.