The paper introduces T2T (Thickening-to-Thinning), a dynamic reward framework for large language models that mimics human learning by separating exploration and consolidation phases. During incorrect attempts, T2T encourages exploration to broaden the search space, while after correct solutions it applies length penalties to promote concise reasoning. Experiments on mathematical benchmarks across five mainstream LLMs show that T2T outperforms standard GRPO and recent baselines, improving overall reasoning performance.
By Wenze Lin, Zhen Yang, Xitai Jiang, Xiaoteng Ma, Gao Huang
The paper investigates whether reasoning representations—explanations for large language model outputs—aid humans in evaluating those outputs. A controlled human study tested six reasoning formats across tasks of varying complexity, measuring structural understanding, error detection, and trust calibration. Results revealed a mismatch: participants favored planning- and decomposition-based representations, yet simpler chain-of-thought traces better supported verification, trust, and interpretability, while preferred formats increased calibration risks.
By Jaewoo Lim, Sungbok Shin, Sanghyun Hong
The paper argues that large language models need adaptive reasoning rather than fixed reasoning budgets. It shows that over‑reasoning leads to high computational cost without accuracy gains, while under‑reasoning results in incorrect or incomplete solutions. The authors evaluate these failure modes on MATH‑500 and the GAIA benchmark, highlighting the need for dynamic reasoning allocation in agentic AI systems.
By Md Jueal Mia, M. Hadi Amini
arXiv:2606. 13603v1 Announce Type: cross Abstract: Chain-of-thought (CoT) reasoning is the dominant paradigm for inference-time scaling in language models, yet the causal influence of individual steps on the final answer poorly understood.
By Daniel Scalena, Sara Candussio, Luca Bortolussi, Elisabetta Fersini, Malvina Nissim, Gabriele Sarti
arXiv:2602. 09924v4 Announce Type: replace-cross Abstract: Running LLMs with extended reasoning on every problem is expensive, but determining which inputs actually require additional compute remains challenging.
By William Lugoloobi, Thomas Foster, William Bankes, Chris Russell
The paper surveys efficient reasoning in large language models, contrasting fast intuitive (System 1) and slow deep (System 2) reasoning. It analyzes why System 2 is computationally costly yet more accurate, and why System 1 is efficient but less effective. The survey covers causes of inefficiency, patterns of reasoning behavior, and potential solutions to balance performance and computational budgets, offering actionable insights and an open‑source repository for ongoing research.
By Rui Wang, Hongru Wang, Boyang Xue, Jianhui Pang, Shudong Liu, Yi Chen, Jiahao Qiu, Derek Fai Wong, Heng Ji, Kam-Fai Wong
arXiv:2510. 19990v2 Announce Type: replace Abstract: The reasoning paradigm, where language models reason before answering, has enabled breakthroughs on tasks such as mathematical problem-solving.
By Zachary Horvitz, Raghav Singhal, Hao Zou, Carles Domingo-Enrich, Zhou Yu, Rajesh Ranganath, Kathleen McKeown
arXiv:2605. 24396v2 Announce Type: replace Abstract: Long chains of thought (CoT) from current language models frequently contain logical gaps and unjustified leaps, limiting the gains from additional test-time compute.
By Jingchu Gai, Guanning Zeng, Christina Baek, Chen Wu, J. Zico Kolter, Andrej Risteski, Aditi Raghunathan
arXiv:2606. 01462v1 Announce Type: new Abstract: Studies of human reasoning have shown that people are typically stronger at evaluating reasoning than producing it from scratch.
By Mingzhong Sun, Teresa Yeo, Armando Solar-Lezama, Tan Zhi-Xuan
The paper investigates whether large language models (LLMs) follow Occam's Razor when performing inductive and abductive reasoning. It introduces a synthetic framework for generating questions that require both types of reasoning and a new automated metric to evaluate the simplicity and correctness of generated hypotheses. Experiments show that while LLMs can handle simple scenarios, they struggle with complex world models and producing high‑quality, simplest hypotheses, even when using advanced reasoning techniques.
By Yunxin Sun, Abulhair Saparov
arXiv:2608. 14791v1 Announce Type: new Abstract: Abductive reasoning, often characterized as inference to the best explanation, is central to explanation under uncertainty, from everyday sense-making and investigation to scientific discovery.
By Moein Salimi, Danial Parnian, Shaygan Adim, Amirmohammad Ebrahiminasab, Nima Alighardashi, Parsa Gholami, Sahand Akramipour, Mahdi Jafari Siavoshani, Mohammad Hossein Rohban
arXiv:2602. 09305v2 Announce Type: replace Abstract: Large Language Models (LLMs) demonstrate transformative potential, yet their reasoning remains inconsistent and unreliable.
By Pei-Chi Pan, Yingbin Liang, Sen Lin