Verifying prioritized memory in the NCT framework

Determine a practical and reliable method to verify that an artificial system evaluated under the Narrative Continuity Test consistently prioritizes core commitments—such as safety constraints, identity-defining information, and settled positions—over recency- or lexical-similarity-based cues when carrying information forward across interactions.

Background

Within the Narrative Continuity Test, the Situated Memory axis requires that systems carry forward identity-relevant information with priority, not merely recall content due to recency or surface similarity. The paper argues that current LLM architectures typically lack persistent, cross-session prioritization and often rely on retrieval or long contexts, which do not guarantee epistemically important facts will be activated when needed.

The authors explicitly flag as an open question how to practically test and confirm that a system is prioritizing epistemic and identity-critical information rather than simply favoring recent or lexically similar tokens. Establishing such a verification method is essential to operationalize the NCT.