{"id":"https://openalex.org/W7166805410","doi":"https://doi.org/10.18653/v1/2026.findings-acl.123","title":"Temporal Token Matters: Investigating and Interpreting the Consistency of Temporal Ordering in Large Language Models","display_name":"Temporal Token Matters: Investigating and Interpreting the Consistency of Temporal Ordering in Large Language Models","publication_year":2026,"publication_date":"2026-01-01","ids":{"openalex":"https://openalex.org/W7166805410","doi":"https://doi.org/10.18653/v1/2026.findings-acl.123"},"language":null,"primary_location":{"id":"doi:10.18653/v1/2026.findings-acl.123","is_oa":true,"landing_page_url":"https://doi.org/10.18653/v1/2026.findings-acl.123","pdf_url":"https://aclanthology.org/2026.findings-acl.123.pdf","source":null,"license":"cc-by","license_id":"https://openalex.org/licenses/cc-by","version":"publishedVersion","is_accepted":true,"is_published":true,"raw_source_name":"Findings of the Association for Computational Linguistics: ACL 2026","raw_type":"proceedings-article"},"type":"conference-paper","indexed_in":["crossref"],"open_access":{"is_oa":true,"oa_status":"gold","oa_url":"https://aclanthology.org/2026.findings-acl.123.pdf","any_repository_has_fulltext":null},"authorships":[{"author_position":"first","author":{"id":"https://openalex.org/A5139732123","display_name":"Zhen Yang","orcid":null},"institutions":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/I125839683","display_name":"Beijing Institute of Technology","ror":"https://ror.org/01skt4w74","country_code":"CN","type":"education","lineage":["https://openalex.org/I125839683","https://openalex.org/I890469752"]},{"id":"https://openalex.org/I202334528","display_name":"Beijing Electronic Science and Technology Institute","ror":"https://ror.org/01xdzh226","country_code":"CN","type":"education","lineage":["https://openalex.org/I202334528"]}],"countries":["CN"],"is_corresponding":false,"raw_author_name":"Zhen Yang","raw_affiliation_strings":["School of Computer Science and Technology , Beijing Institute of Technology , Beijing , China"],"raw_orcid":null,"affiliations":[{"raw_affiliation_string":"School of Computer Science and Technology , Beijing Institute of Technology , Beijing , China","institution_ids":["https://openalex.org/I125839683","https://openalex.org/I202334528"]}]},{"author_position":"middle","author":{"id":"https://openalex.org/A5139758007","display_name":"Xinyue Zhang","orcid":null},"institutions":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/I125839683","display_name":"Beijing Institute of Technology","ror":"https://ror.org/01skt4w74","country_code":"CN","type":"education","lineage":["https://openalex.org/I125839683","https://openalex.org/I890469752"]},{"id":"https://openalex.org/I202334528","display_name":"Beijing Electronic Science and Technology Institute","ror":"https://ror.org/01xdzh226","country_code":"CN","type":"education","lineage":["https://openalex.org/I202334528"]}],"countries":["CN"],"is_corresponding":false,"raw_author_name":"Xinyue Zhang","raw_affiliation_strings":["School of Computer Science and Technology , Beijing Institute of Technology , Beijing , China"],"raw_orcid":null,"affiliations":[{"raw_affiliation_string":"School of Computer Science and Technology , Beijing Institute of Technology , Beijing , China","institution_ids":["https://openalex.org/I125839683","https://openalex.org/I202334528"]}]},{"author_position":"middle","author":{"id":"https://openalex.org/A5139787893","display_name":"Ping Jian","orcid":null},"institutions":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/I125839683","display_name":"Beijing Institute of Technology","ror":"https://ror.org/01skt4w74","country_code":"CN","type":"education","lineage":["https://openalex.org/I125839683","https://openalex.org/I890469752"]},{"id":"https://openalex.org/I202334528","display_name":"Beijing Electronic Science and Technology Institute","ror":"https://ror.org/01xdzh226","country_code":"CN","type":"education","lineage":["https://openalex.org/I202334528"]}],"countries":["CN"],"is_corresponding":false,"raw_author_name":"Ping Jian","raw_affiliation_strings":["School of Computer Science and Technology , Beijing Institute of Technology , Beijing , China"],"raw_orcid":null,"affiliations":[{"raw_affiliation_string":"School of Computer Science and Technology , Beijing Institute of Technology , Beijing , China","institution_ids":["https://openalex.org/I125839683","https://openalex.org/I202334528"]}]},{"author_position":"middle","author":{"id":"https://openalex.org/A5139799337","display_name":"Chengzhi Li","orcid":null},"institutions":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/I125839683","display_name":"Beijing Institute of Technology","ror":"https://ror.org/01skt4w74","country_code":"CN","type":"education","lineage":["https://openalex.org/I125839683","https://openalex.org/I890469752"]},{"id":"https://openalex.org/I202334528","display_name":"Beijing Electronic Science and Technology Institute","ror":"https://ror.org/01xdzh226","country_code":"CN","type":"education","lineage":["https://openalex.org/I202334528"]}],"countries":["CN"],"is_corresponding":false,"raw_author_name":"Chengzhi Li","raw_affiliation_strings":["School of Computer Science and Technology , Beijing Institute of Technology , Beijing , China"],"raw_orcid":null,"affiliations":[{"raw_affiliation_string":"School of Computer Science and Technology , Beijing Institute of Technology , Beijing , China","institution_ids":["https://openalex.org/I125839683","https://openalex.org/I202334528"]}]},{"author_position":"middle","author":{"id":"https://openalex.org/A5102557005","display_name":"Zhongbin Guo","orcid":null},"institutions":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/I125839683","display_name":"Beijing Institute of Technology","ror":"https://ror.org/01skt4w74","country_code":"CN","type":"education","lineage":["https://openalex.org/I125839683","https://openalex.org/I890469752"]},{"id":"https://openalex.org/I202334528","display_name":"Beijing Electronic Science and Technology Institute","ror":"https://ror.org/01xdzh226","country_code":"CN","type":"education","lineage":["https://openalex.org/I202334528"]}],"countries":["CN"],"is_corresponding":false,"raw_author_name":"Zhongbin Guo","raw_affiliation_strings":["School of Computer Science and Technology , Beijing Institute of Technology , Beijing , China"],"raw_orcid":null,"affiliations":[{"raw_affiliation_string":"School of Computer Science and Technology , Beijing Institute of Technology , Beijing , China","institution_ids":["https://openalex.org/I125839683","https://openalex.org/I202334528"]}]},{"author_position":"middle","author":{"id":"https://openalex.org/A5139830399","display_name":"Jiaping Feng","orcid":null},"institutions":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/I125839683","display_name":"Beijing Institute of Technology","ror":"https://ror.org/01skt4w74","country_code":"CN","type":"education","lineage":["https://openalex.org/I125839683","https://openalex.org/I890469752"]},{"id":"https://openalex.org/I202334528","display_name":"Beijing Electronic Science and Technology Institute","ror":"https://ror.org/01xdzh226","country_code":"CN","type":"education","lineage":["https://openalex.org/I202334528"]}],"countries":["CN"],"is_corresponding":false,"raw_author_name":"Jiaping Feng","raw_affiliation_strings":["School of Computer Science and Technology , Beijing Institute of Technology , Beijing , China"],"raw_orcid":null,"affiliations":[{"raw_affiliation_string":"School of Computer Science and Technology , Beijing Institute of Technology , Beijing , China","institution_ids":["https://openalex.org/I125839683","https://openalex.org/I202334528"]}]},{"author_position":"last","author":{"id":"https://openalex.org/A5139716698","display_name":"Wenpeng Lu","orcid":null},"institutions":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/I152269853","display_name":"Qilu University of Technology","ror":"https://ror.org/04hyzq608","country_code":"CN","type":"education","lineage":["https://openalex.org/I152269853"]}],"countries":["CN"],"is_corresponding":false,"raw_author_name":"Wenpeng Lu","raw_affiliation_strings":["Key Laboratory of Computing Power Network and Information Security , Ministry of Education , Shandong Computer Science Center (National Supercomputer Center in Jinan) , Qilu University of Technology (Shandong Academy of Sciences) , Jinan , China"],"raw_orcid":null,"affiliations":[{"raw_affiliation_string":"Key Laboratory of Computing Power Network and Information Security , Ministry of Education , Shandong Computer Science Center (National Supercomputer Center in Jinan) , Qilu University of Technology (Shandong Academy of Sciences) , Jinan , China","institution_ids":["https://openalex.org/I152269853"]}]}],"institutions":[],"countries_distinct_count":1,"institutions_distinct_count":3,"corresponding_author_ids":[],"corresponding_institution_ids":[],"apc_list":null,"apc_paid":null,"fwci":0.0,"has_fulltext":true,"cited_by_count":0,"citation_normalized_percentile":{"value":0.85380558,"is_in_top_1_percent":false,"is_in_top_10_percent":false},"cited_by_percentile_year":null,"biblio":{"volume":null,"issue":null,"first_page":"2577","last_page":"2596"},"is_retracted":false,"is_paratext":false,"is_xpac":false,"primary_topic":{"id":"https://openalex.org/T12090","display_name":"Language and cultural evolution","score":0.20479999482631683,"subfield":{"id":"https://openalex.org/subfields/3316","display_name":"Cultural Studies"},"field":{"id":"https://openalex.org/fields/33","display_name":"Social Sciences"},"domain":{"id":"https://openalex.org/domains/2","display_name":"Social Sciences"}},"topics":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/T12090","display_name":"Language and cultural evolution","score":0.20479999482631683,"subfield":{"id":"https://openalex.org/subfields/3316","display_name":"Cultural Studies"},"field":{"id":"https://openalex.org/fields/33","display_name":"Social Sciences"},"domain":{"id":"https://openalex.org/domains/2","display_name":"Social Sciences"}},{"id":"https://openalex.org/T10028","display_name":"Topic Modeling","score":0.13040000200271606,"subfield":{"id":"https://openalex.org/subfields/1702","display_name":"Artificial Intelligence"},"field":{"id":"https://openalex.org/fields/17","display_name":"Computer Science"},"domain":{"id":"https://openalex.org/domains/3","display_name":"Physical Sciences"}},{"id":"https://openalex.org/T13910","display_name":"Computational and Text Analysis Methods","score":0.1039000004529953,"subfield":{"id":"https://openalex.org/subfields/3300","display_name":"General Social Sciences"},"field":{"id":"https://openalex.org/fields/33","display_name":"Social Sciences"},"domain":{"id":"https://openalex.org/domains/2","display_name":"Social Sciences"}}],"keywords":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/consistency","display_name":"Consistency (knowledge bases)","score":0.6132000088691711},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/security-token","display_name":"Security token","score":0.36910000443458557},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/causal-consistency","display_name":"Causal consistency","score":0.3449999988079071},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/language-model","display_name":"Language model","score":0.3050000071525574},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/data-consistency","display_name":"Data consistency","score":0.29829999804496765},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/consistency-model","display_name":"Consistency model","score":0.2971000075340271}],"concepts":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/C41008148","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q21198","display_name":"Computer science","level":0,"score":0.6532999873161316},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C2776436953","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5163215","display_name":"Consistency (knowledge bases)","level":2,"score":0.6132000088691711},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C154945302","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q11660","display_name":"Artificial intelligence","level":1,"score":0.4810999929904938},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C204321447","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q30642","display_name":"Natural language processing","level":1,"score":0.45500001311302185},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C48145219","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1335365","display_name":"Security token","level":2,"score":0.36910000443458557},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C175652121","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4379351","display_name":"Causal consistency","level":5,"score":0.3449999988079071},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C137293760","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q3621696","display_name":"Language model","level":2,"score":0.3050000071525574},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C93361087","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4426698","display_name":"Data consistency","level":2,"score":0.29829999804496765},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C37279795","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q2492305","display_name":"Consistency model","level":3,"score":0.2971000075340271},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C2776401178","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q12050496","display_name":"Feature (linguistics)","level":2,"score":0.2732999920845032},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C31388003","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7624548","display_name":"Strong consistency","level":3,"score":0.26930001378059387},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C2780801425","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5164392","display_name":"Construct (python library)","level":2,"score":0.25940001010894775},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C195324797","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q33742","display_name":"Natural language","level":2,"score":0.2524000108242035}],"mesh":[],"locations_count":1,"locations":[{"id":"doi:10.18653/v1/2026.findings-acl.123","is_oa":true,"landing_page_url":"https://doi.org/10.18653/v1/2026.findings-acl.123","pdf_url":"https://aclanthology.org/2026.findings-acl.123.pdf","source":null,"license":"cc-by","license_id":"https://openalex.org/licenses/cc-by","version":"publishedVersion","is_accepted":true,"is_published":true,"raw_source_name":"Findings of the Association for Computational Linguistics: ACL 2026","raw_type":"proceedings-article"}],"best_oa_location":{"id":"doi:10.18653/v1/2026.findings-acl.123","is_oa":true,"landing_page_url":"https://doi.org/10.18653/v1/2026.findings-acl.123","pdf_url":"https://aclanthology.org/2026.findings-acl.123.pdf","source":null,"license":"cc-by","license_id":"https://openalex.org/licenses/cc-by","version":"publishedVersion","is_accepted":true,"is_published":true,"raw_source_name":"Findings of the Association for Computational Linguistics: ACL 2026","raw_type":"proceedings-article"},"sustainable_development_goals":[],"awards":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/G917634060","display_name":null,"funder_award_id":"62376130","funder_id":"https://openalex.org/F4320321001","funder_display_name":"National Natural Science Foundation of China"}],"funders":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/F4320321001","display_name":"National Natural Science Foundation of China","ror":"https://ror.org/01h0zpd94"}],"has_content":{"grobid_xml":true,"pdf":true},"content_urls":{"pdf":"https://content.openalex.org/works/W7166805410.pdf","grobid_xml":"https://content.openalex.org/works/W7166805410.grobid-xml"},"referenced_works_count":0,"referenced_works":[],"related_works":[],"abstract_inverted_index":{"Despite":[0],"the":[1,29,33,73,83,96,154,173,196],"remarkable":[2],"performance":[3],"across":[4],"numerous":[5],"tasks,":[6],"Large":[7],"Language":[8],"Models":[9],"(LLMs)":[10],"still":[11],"exhibit":[12],"notable":[13],"deficiencies":[14],"in":[15,19,28,138,202],"temporal":[16,30,62,74,90,100,104,142,200],"reasoning,":[17],"even":[18],"simple":[20],"event":[21,38,44,103],"ordering":[22,101,201],"tasks.For":[23],"instance,":[24],"a":[25,58,107,117],"slight":[26],"alteration":[27],"phrasing":[31],"of":[32,60,77,99,120,175,199],"question":[34],"(e.g.,":[35],"changing":[36],"\"Is":[37,43],"A":[39,45],"before":[40],"B?\"":[41],"to":[42,51,115,140,165],"after":[46],"B?\")":[47],"can":[48,179],"lead":[49],"LLMs":[50,87],"hallucinate":[52],"and":[53,71],"produce":[54],"inconsistent":[55],"answers,":[56],"reflecting":[57],"lack":[59],"robust":[61],"reasoning.Although":[63],"many":[64],"prior":[65],"studies":[66],"have":[67],"focused":[68],"on":[69],"benchmarking":[70],"improving":[72],"reasoning":[75,105,128],"ability":[76],"LLMs,":[78],"little":[79],"is":[80],"known":[81],"about":[82],"intrinsic":[84],"mechanisms":[85],"within":[86,102],"when":[88],"performing":[89],"reasoning.In":[91],"this":[92],"work,":[93],"we":[94,151],"investigate":[95],"mechanistic":[97],"interpretability":[98],"through":[106,157],"structured":[108],"\"Identify-Interpret-Verify\"":[109],"pipeline.We":[110],"first":[111],"employ":[112],"path":[113],"patching":[114],"identify":[116],"sparse":[118],"subset":[119],"attention":[121,167,174],"heads":[122,136,178],"that":[123,133,170,190],"are":[124],"causally":[125],"responsible":[126],"for":[127],"outcomes.Detailed":[129],"pattern":[130],"analysis":[131],"reveals":[132],"these":[134,176],"key":[135],"specialize":[137],"attending":[139],"either":[141],"keywords":[143],"(semantic":[144],"cues)":[145],"or":[146],"structural":[147],"delimiters":[148],"(syntactic":[149],"cues).Furthermore,":[150],"rigorously":[152],"validate":[153],"observed":[155],"mechanism":[156,193],"comprehensive":[158],"intervention-based":[159],"experiments,":[160],"ranging":[161],"from":[162],"head":[163],"ablation":[164],"targeted":[166],"modulation.We":[168],"demonstrate":[169],"dynamically":[171],"modulating":[172],"specific":[177],"robustly":[180],"enhance":[181],"model":[182],"performance,":[183],"which":[184],"serves":[185],"as":[186],"strong":[187],"empirical":[188],"evidence":[189],"our":[191],"identified":[192],"faithfully":[194],"captures":[195],"internal":[197],"logic":[198],"LLMs.":[203]},"counts_by_year":[],"updated_date":"2026-08-23T07:36:19.812096","created_date":"2026-07-02T00:00:00"}
