arXiv:2604.16995cs.CLcs.LG2026-04ACL被引 1

通过交替使用强化学习与逆强化学习,提升大模型推理时的探索能力。

SPS: Steering Probability Squeezing for Better Exploration in Reinforcement Learning for Large Language Models

论文配图:SPS: Steering Probability Squeezing for Better Exploration in Reinforcement Learning for Large Language Models
图 1 · 摘自论文原文
  • 用逆强化学习重设策略分布,打破高奖励路径的过度集中
  • 在5个基准上显著提升Pass@k,改善多样本推理性能
  • 适合关注大模型推理多样性与探索能力的研究者

强化学习(RL)已成为训练以推理为导向的大语言模型的有力范式,依赖规则化奖励信号。然而,传统RL通常只提升单样本成功率(Pass@1),对多样化推理路径的探索有限,而这对于多样本表现(Pass@k)至关重要。初步分析表明,这一局限源于概率挤压效应:高奖励路径上的概率质量过度集中,限制了真实探索,制约了RL训练下的性能上限。为此,本文提出面向更好探索的引导概率挤压(SPS)方法,将常规RL与逆强化学习(IRL)交替进行。SPS将在线策略采样视为示范数据,利用IRL显式重构轨迹分布,从而在不引入外部监督的前提下增强探索能力。在五个常用推理基准上的实验表明,SPS可有效提升探索性并改善Pass@k。此外,我们分析了RL的学习动态,识别出Pass@k的实证上限,揭示了基于RL的推理模型内在探索极限。结果表明,交替使用RL与IRL是扩展推理型大模型探索能力的有效路径。

原文摘要 · Abstract (English)

Reinforcement learning (RL) has emerged as a promising paradigm for training reasoning-oriented models by leveraging rule-based reward signals. However, RL training typically tends to improve single-sample success rates (i.e., Pass@1) while offering limited exploration of diverse reasoning trajectories, which is crucial for multi-sample performance (i.e., Pass@k). Our preliminary analysis reveals that this limitation stems from a fundamental squeezing effect, whereby probability mass is excessively concentrated on a narrow subset of high-reward trajectories, restricting genuine exploration and constraining attainable performance under RL training. To address this issue, in this work, we propose Steering Probability Squeezing (SPS), a training paradigm that interleaves conventional RL with inverse reinforcement learning (IRL). SPS treats on-policy rollouts as demonstrations and employs IRL to explicitly reshape the induced trajectory distribution, thereby enhancing exploration without introducing external supervision. Experiments on five commonly used reasoning benchmarks demonstrate that SPS can enable better exploration and improve Pass@k. Beyond algorithmic contributions, we provide an analysis of RL learning dynamics and identify an empirical upper bound on Pass@k, shedding light on intrinsic exploration limits in RL-based reasoning models. Our findings suggest that alternating between RL and IRL offers an effective pathway toward extending the exploration capacity of reasoning-oriented large language models.

强化学习大模型推理探索优化

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