让大模型从自身推理过程学习,用轻量记忆持续提升能力。
Continual Self-Improvement with Lightweight Experiential Latent Memories

- 将推理痕迹转化为可复用的潜在记忆,通过少量梯度更新训练。
- 在数学推理任务上超越零样本和原始数据ICL,接近全参数训练效果。
- 仅需模型参数的0.001%即可实现持续改进,适合资源受限场景。
大语言模型虽能通过扩大推理计算量获得强推理能力,但本质上是无状态的,会丢弃推理过程中产生的丰富自生成轨迹。本文探讨模型能否在线学习这些经验,将临时计算转化为持久可复用的知识,且无需外部监督或未来数据。研究发现,在原始推理轨迹上进行上下文学习(ICL)无法泛化,说明单个轨迹缺乏抽象性,即使经过自省等优化亦然。相反,借鉴无监督强化学习思想,采用自生成测试时信号(多数投票)作为奖励,对每例进行轻量级在线训练,取得显著提升,常优于全数据集离线训练。基于此,提出一种在线方法:将推理时计算转化为紧凑模块化潜在记忆,存储并用于后续输入,实现持续改进且避免灾难性遗忘。该方法极为高效,仅需约0.001%模型参数的软提示记忆,并以数步梯度更新,性能却媲美全参数更新与离线训练。在多个复杂数学推理基准上,显著优于零样本及原始数据ICL基线,且跨数据集有效迁移。
原文摘要 · Abstract (English)
Large language models achieve strong reasoning performance by scaling inference-time compute, yet remain fundamentally stateless, discarding the rich, self-produced reasoning traces generated during this process. We investigate whether models can instead learn online from this experience, converting transient computation (reasoning traces) into persistent reusable knowledge, and without external supervision or access to future data. We show that In-Context Learning (ICL) over raw reasoning traces fails to generalize, reflecting a fundamental limitation of token-level reuse: individual traces lack the abstraction needed for transfer, even after refinement (e.g. self-reflection). In contrast, drawing inspiration from recent works on unsupervised reinforcement learning, we find that lightweight per-instance training with self-generated test-time signals (majority voting) as rewards yields substantial gains, often surpassing full-dataset offline training, motivating a shift from raw traces to learned latent representations. Building on this insight, we propose an online method that distills inference-time compute spent on encountered problems into compact modular latent memories capturing the underlying reasoning structure. These memories are stored and retrieved for future inputs, enabling continual improvement while avoiding catastrophic forgetting through modular design. Importantly, our method is highly efficient, parametrized as extremely lightweight soft prompt memories (~0.001% of model parameters) and trained with only a few gradient steps, yet achieving performance competitive with full parametric updates and offline training. Across challenging mathematical reasoning benchmarks, our approach significantly outperforms zero-shot and raw data ICL baselines, while transferring effectively across datasets.
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