---
title: "Using Relational Operators to Structure Long-Term Memory"
authors:
  - "Alan L. Tharp"
  - "Gilbert K. Krulee"
doi: ""
url: "https://ijcai.org/proceedings/1969/50"
pdf: "https://ijcai.org/proceedings/1969/0050.pdf"
venue: "Proceedings of the First International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence"
year: 1969
pages: "579-586"
track: "Linguistic Research Relevant to Artificial Intelligence"
keywords:
---

# Using Relational Operators to Structure Long-Term Memory

Alan L. Tharp, Gilbert K. Krulee

*Proceedings of the First International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence*, pages 579-586.

## Abstract

This paper describes a system for "remembering" a story or passage in English and for the subsequent retrieval of responses to questions. Although it functions as an information retrieval system, it is also intended as a model for long-term human memory. Information is stored in the form of predicates and property lists. In translating from natural language, the system carries out a transformational analysis of each sentence and identifies its deep structure interpretation. This grammatical analysis is essential to the identification of the predicates as well as relationships among them. The first two subsystems carry out the grammatical analysis. A third identifies the predicates and property lists, determines a time and priority structure, forms a logical ~ap of relationships among predicates, and eliminates some predicates based on an assignment of priority. The fourth subsystem is used to answer inquiries about the stored information. The method is illustrated with references to one story that has been processed and with examples of questions that might be asked. Keywords and phrases: Memory, information retrieval, relation, relational operations, predicate, information retrieval, question-answering system.