模型更听任务合理性的,而非指令本身,但可干预使其听话。
Compliance versus Sensibility: On the Reasoning Controllability in Large Language Models

- 用逻辑冲突实验测试模型是否能按指令推理
- 模型90%以上选合理思路,不听指令;冲突时置信度下降30%+
- 通过中间层激活值控制推理类型,让模型听从指令
大型语言模型在预训练中习得推理能力,通过链式思考(CoT)进一步激发。然而,归纳、演绎、类比等基础推理模式能否脱离具体问题实例而独立控制,仍是模型可控性的关键挑战。本文首次系统研究该问题,引入推理冲突:强制模型采用与任务预期不符的逻辑框架,形成参数与上下文信息的显性矛盾。评估发现,模型始终优先选择合理性而非遵守指令,即使在冲突下仍倾向使用任务合适的推理方式。探针实验表明,推理类型在中后层线性编码,且冲突时置信度显著下降(平均降幅超30%),证明内部可检测。基于此,我们设计干预策略,使模型更服从指令,指令遵循率最高提升29%。结果表明,尽管模型推理锚定于具体实例,但通过机制级干预可有效解耦逻辑模式,为提升可控性、忠实性和泛化性提供路径。
原文摘要 · Abstract (English)
Large Language Models (LLMs) are known to acquire reasoning capabilities through shared inference patterns in pre-training data, which are further elicited via Chain-of-Thought (CoT) practices. However, whether fundamental reasoning patterns, such as induction, deduction, and abduction, can be decoupled from specific problem instances remains a critical challenge for model controllability, and for shedding light on reasoning controllability. In this paper, we present the first systematic investigation of this problem through the lens of reasoning conflicts: an explicit tension between parametric and contextual information induced by mandating logical schemata that deviate from those expected for a target task. Our evaluation reveals that LLMs consistently prioritize sensibility over compliance, favoring task-appropriate reasoning patterns despite conflicting instructions. We further demonstrate that reasoning conflicts are internally detectable, as confidence scores significantly drop during conflicting episodes. Probing experiments confirm that reasoning types are linearly encoded from middle-to-late layers, indicating the potential for activation-level controllability. Leveraging these insights, we steer models towards compliance, increasing instruction following by up to 29%. Overall, our findings establish that while LLM reasoning is anchored to concrete instances, active mechanistic interventions can effectively decouple logical schemata from data, offering a path toward improved controllability, faithfulness, and generalizability.
Thank you to arXiv for use of its open access interoperability. PaperDance 不是 arXiv 官方产品;中文卡片由大模型生成,请以原文为准。