人类天生具备听懂指令快速学习新任务的能力，这源于进化出的认知偏见。
Are Humans Evolved Instruction Followers? An Underlying Inductive Bias Enables Rapid Instructed Task Learning
- 提出人类有演化形成的指令跟随偏见，促进语言到行为的快速映射。
- 该偏见使人类能仅凭一次指令就完成新任务，类似大模型零样本推理。
- 呼吁跨学科研究，探索其在人与机器中的统一机制。
成人往往仅通过一次口头或书面指令就能正确完成一项新任务，这种快速指令学习（RITL）是人类认知灵活性的重要标志，但其机制及在人工系统中的类比仍缺乏跨领域研究。本文主张，人类具有演化形成的指令遵循偏见——一种由进化塑造的认知倾向，使人们能有效解读并执行语言指令，从而实现行为的快速泛化。该机制类似于大语言模型（LLMs）通过指令微调实现零样本任务表现的方式。我们综合认知科学、神经科学和机器学习的研究证据支持这一假说。尽管人工智能中的指令遵循依赖专门训练流程，而人类中则源于内在认知架构。文中提出可验证的预测，并呼吁开展更多跨学科研究，将指令遵循视为自然与人工神经网络中实现快速任务学习的统一机制。
原文摘要 · Abstract (English)
Human adults can often perform a novel task correctly on the first attempt after only receiving verbal or written instructions. This rapid instructed task learning (RITL) is a hallmark of human cognitive flexibility, yet its mechanisms and parallels in artificial systems remain under-explored across disciplines. In this position paper, we argue that humans possess an evolved instruction-following bias -- an inductive bias shaped by evolution to interpret and execute linguistic instructions which critically enables fast generalization of behavior from language. This bias functions analogously to the way large language models (LLMs) leverage instruction tuning to achieve zero-shot task performance. We synthesize evidence from cognitive science, neuroscience, and machine learning research to support this hypothesis. While instruction-following in AI is currently achieved via specialized training protocols, we posit that in humans it arises as an innate cognitive architecture feature. We outline testable predictions and call for more interdisciplinary research to investigate Instruction-Following as a unifying mechanism enabling rapid task learning in both natural and artificial neural networks.
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