# Latency-Modulated Heat Diffusion

In verbal memory tests, the order of recalled words and the pauses between them carry diagnostic information, but a pause means different things inside a semantic category and at a switch between categories. TrajLift treats a recall episode as a timed trajectory on a semantic hierarchy, uses heat diffusion to lift each word onto several hierarchical scales, and lets the inter-item latency modulate the diffusion time so structure and timing enter one operator. On Hong Kong List Learning Test data from 387 participants after excluding 15 with annotation issues, accuracy on the 30-minute delayed-recall trial was 80.38%, 4.5 percentage points above a handcrafted baseline using recall count alone; the paired difference on the 10-minute trial was not significant.

In verbal memory tests, the order of recalled words and the pauses between them carry diagnostic information, but a pause means different things inside a semantic category and at a switch between categories. TrajLift treats a recall episode as a timed trajectory on a semantic hierarchy, uses heat diffusion to lift each word onto several hierarchical scales, and lets the inter-item latency modulate the diffusion time so structure and timing enter one operator. On Hong Kong List Learning Test data from 387 participants after excluding 15 with annotation issues, accuracy on the 30-minute delayed-recall trial was 80.38%, 4.5 percentage points above a handcrafted baseline using recall count alone; the paired difference on the 10-minute trial was not significant.