{"id":"https://openalex.org/W7140186782","doi":"https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.2603.20554","title":"When Negation Is a Geometry Problem in Vision-Language Models","display_name":"When Negation Is a Geometry Problem in Vision-Language Models","publication_year":2026,"publication_date":"2026-03-20","ids":{"openalex":"https://openalex.org/W7140186782","doi":"https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.2603.20554"},"language":"en","primary_location":{"id":"pmh:oai:vubissmart:VUBISSMART:2000:267274","is_oa":false,"landing_page_url":"https://biblio.vub.ac.be/vubir/when-negation-is-a-geometry-problem-in-vision-language-models(411e6329-f686-4682-a03a-3e737636f6eb).html","pdf_url":null,"source":{"id":"https://openalex.org/S4306402573","display_name":"VUBIR (Vrije Universiteit Brussel)","issn_l":null,"issn":null,"is_oa":false,"is_in_doaj":false,"is_core":false,"host_organization":"https://openalex.org/I13469542","host_organization_name":"Vrije Universiteit Brussel","host_organization_lineage":["https://openalex.org/I13469542"],"host_organization_lineage_names":[],"type":"repository"},"license":null,"license_id":null,"version":"submittedVersion","is_accepted":false,"is_published":false,"raw_source_name":null,"raw_type":"article"},"type":"preprint","indexed_in":["datacite"],"open_access":{"is_oa":true,"oa_status":"green","oa_url":"https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.2603.20554","any_repository_has_fulltext":true},"authorships":[{"author_position":"first","author":{"id":null,"display_name":"Sammani, Fawaz","orcid":null},"institutions":[],"countries":[],"is_corresponding":false,"raw_author_name":"Sammani, Fawaz","raw_affiliation_strings":[],"raw_orcid":null,"affiliations":[]},{"author_position":"middle","author":{"id":null,"display_name":"Chamiti, Tzoulio","orcid":null},"institutions":[],"countries":[],"is_corresponding":false,"raw_author_name":"Chamiti, Tzoulio","raw_affiliation_strings":[],"raw_orcid":null,"affiliations":[]},{"author_position":"middle","author":{"id":null,"display_name":"Gavrikov, Paul","orcid":null},"institutions":[],"countries":[],"is_corresponding":false,"raw_author_name":"Gavrikov, Paul","raw_affiliation_strings":[],"raw_orcid":null,"affiliations":[]},{"author_position":"last","author":{"id":null,"display_name":"Deligiannis, Nikos","orcid":null},"institutions":[],"countries":[],"is_corresponding":false,"raw_author_name":"Deligiannis, Nikos","raw_affiliation_strings":[],"raw_orcid":null,"affiliations":[]}],"institutions":[],"countries_distinct_count":0,"institutions_distinct_count":4,"corresponding_author_ids":[],"corresponding_institution_ids":[],"apc_list":null,"apc_paid":null,"fwci":null,"has_fulltext":false,"cited_by_count":0,"citation_normalized_percentile":null,"cited_by_percentile_year":null,"biblio":{"volume":null,"issue":null,"first_page":null,"last_page":null},"is_retracted":false,"is_paratext":false,"is_xpac":false,"primary_topic":{"id":"https://openalex.org/T11714","display_name":"Multimodal Machine Learning Applications","score":0.9473999738693237,"subfield":{"id":"https://openalex.org/subfields/1707","display_name":"Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition"},"field":{"id":"https://openalex.org/fields/17","display_name":"Computer Science"},"domain":{"id":"https://openalex.org/domains/3","display_name":"Physical Sciences"}},"topics":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/T11714","display_name":"Multimodal Machine Learning Applications","score":0.9473999738693237,"subfield":{"id":"https://openalex.org/subfields/1707","display_name":"Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition"},"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/T10028","display_name":"Topic Modeling","score":0.014000000432133675,"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/T10627","display_name":"Advanced Image and Video Retrieval Techniques","score":0.005200000014156103,"subfield":{"id":"https://openalex.org/subfields/1707","display_name":"Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition"},"field":{"id":"https://openalex.org/fields/17","display_name":"Computer Science"},"domain":{"id":"https://openalex.org/domains/3","display_name":"Physical Sciences"}}],"keywords":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/negation","display_name":"Negation","score":0.8791000247001648},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/embedding","display_name":"Embedding","score":0.6482999920845032},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/generalization","display_name":"Generalization","score":0.6198999881744385},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/representation","display_name":"Representation (politics)","score":0.5911999940872192},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/simple","display_name":"Simple (philosophy)","score":0.4717000126838684},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/key","display_name":"Key (lock)","score":0.46790000796318054},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/algebra-over-a-field","display_name":"Algebra over a field","score":0.41929998993873596}],"concepts":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/C2185349","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q190558","display_name":"Negation","level":2,"score":0.8791000247001648},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C41608201","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q980509","display_name":"Embedding","level":2,"score":0.6482999920845032},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C177148314","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q170084","display_name":"Generalization","level":2,"score":0.6198999881744385},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C2776359362","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q2145286","display_name":"Representation (politics)","level":3,"score":0.5911999940872192},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C33923547","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q395","display_name":"Mathematics","level":0,"score":0.48730000853538513},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C2780586882","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7520643","display_name":"Simple (philosophy)","level":2,"score":0.4717000126838684},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C26517878","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q228039","display_name":"Key (lock)","level":2,"score":0.46790000796318054},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C154945302","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q11660","display_name":"Artificial intelligence","level":1,"score":0.4375999867916107},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C136119220","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1000660","display_name":"Algebra over a field","level":2,"score":0.41929998993873596},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C41008148","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q21198","display_name":"Computer science","level":0,"score":0.4068000018596649},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C80444323","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q2878974","display_name":"Theoretical computer science","level":1,"score":0.3880000114440918},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C2778572836","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q380933","display_name":"Space (punctuation)","level":2,"score":0.352400004863739},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C11413529","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q8366","display_name":"Algorithm","level":1,"score":0.34119999408721924},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C204321447","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q30642","display_name":"Natural language processing","level":1,"score":0.311599999666214},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C194146651","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q2119400","display_name":"Negation as failure","level":5,"score":0.30869999527931213},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C2777686260","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q144037","display_name":"Calculus (dental)","level":2,"score":0.30160000920295715},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C90329073","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q914232","display_name":"Ask price","level":2,"score":0.28040000796318054},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C160920958","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7662746","display_name":"Synthetic data","level":2,"score":0.26460000872612},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C61797465","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1188986","display_name":"Term (time)","level":2,"score":0.2540000081062317}],"mesh":[],"locations_count":2,"locations":[{"id":"pmh:oai:vubissmart:VUBISSMART:2000:267274","is_oa":false,"landing_page_url":"https://biblio.vub.ac.be/vubir/when-negation-is-a-geometry-problem-in-vision-language-models(411e6329-f686-4682-a03a-3e737636f6eb).html","pdf_url":null,"source":{"id":"https://openalex.org/S4306402573","display_name":"VUBIR (Vrije Universiteit Brussel)","issn_l":null,"issn":null,"is_oa":false,"is_in_doaj":false,"is_core":false,"host_organization":"https://openalex.org/I13469542","host_organization_name":"Vrije Universiteit Brussel","host_organization_lineage":["https://openalex.org/I13469542"],"host_organization_lineage_names":[],"type":"repository"},"license":null,"license_id":null,"version":"submittedVersion","is_accepted":false,"is_published":false,"raw_source_name":null,"raw_type":"article"},{"id":"doi:10.48550/arxiv.2603.20554","is_oa":true,"landing_page_url":"https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.2603.20554","pdf_url":null,"source":{"id":"https://openalex.org/S4306400194","display_name":"arXiv (Cornell University)","issn_l":null,"issn":null,"is_oa":true,"is_in_doaj":false,"is_core":false,"host_organization":"https://openalex.org/I205783295","host_organization_name":"Cornell University","host_organization_lineage":["https://openalex.org/I205783295"],"host_organization_lineage_names":[],"type":"repository"},"license":"cc-by","license_id":"https://openalex.org/licenses/cc-by","version":null,"is_accepted":false,"is_published":null,"raw_source_name":null,"raw_type":"article"}],"best_oa_location":{"id":"doi:10.48550/arxiv.2603.20554","is_oa":true,"landing_page_url":"https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.2603.20554","pdf_url":null,"source":{"id":"https://openalex.org/S4306400194","display_name":"arXiv (Cornell University)","issn_l":null,"issn":null,"is_oa":true,"is_in_doaj":false,"is_core":false,"host_organization":"https://openalex.org/I205783295","host_organization_name":"Cornell University","host_organization_lineage":["https://openalex.org/I205783295"],"host_organization_lineage_names":[],"type":"repository"},"license":"cc-by","license_id":"https://openalex.org/licenses/cc-by","version":null,"is_accepted":false,"is_published":false,"raw_source_name":null,"raw_type":"article"},"sustainable_development_goals":[{"display_name":"Peace, Justice and strong institutions","id":"https://metadata.un.org/sdg/16","score":0.5086203217506409}],"awards":[],"funders":[],"has_content":{"pdf":false,"grobid_xml":false},"content_urls":null,"referenced_works_count":0,"referenced_works":[],"related_works":[],"abstract_inverted_index":{"Joint":[0],"Vision-Language":[1],"Embedding":[2],"models":[3],"such":[4,75,130],"as":[5],"CLIP":[6,42,107,120,149],"typically":[7,89],"fail":[8],"at":[9,91,173],"understanding":[10,92,105,160],"negation":[11,46,62,104,159],"in":[12,21,106,118],"text":[13],"queries,":[14],"for":[15],"example,":[16],"failing":[17],"to":[18,147,165],"distinguish":[19],"\"no\"":[20],"the":[22,119],"query:":[23],"\"a":[24],"plain":[25],"blue":[26],"shirt":[27],"with":[28,124],"no":[29],"logos\".":[30],"Prior":[31],"work":[32],"has":[33],"largely":[34],"addressed":[35],"this":[36,67],"limitation":[37],"through":[38,141],"data-centric":[39],"approaches,":[40],"fine-tuning":[41],"on":[43,85,161],"large-scale":[44],"synthetic":[45],"datasets.":[47],"However,":[48],"these":[49],"efforts":[50],"are":[51],"commonly":[52],"evaluated":[53],"using":[54],"retrieval-based":[55],"metrics":[56,77],"that":[57,129,136],"cannot":[58],"reliably":[59],"reflect":[60],"whether":[61,112],"is":[63,172],"actually":[64],"understood.":[65],"In":[66],"paper,":[68],"we":[69,157],"identify":[70],"two":[71],"key":[72],"limitations":[73],"of":[74,103],"evaluation":[76,82,102],"and":[78,134],"investigate":[79],"an":[80],"alternative":[81],"framework":[83],"based":[84],"Multimodal":[86],"LLMs-as-a-judge,":[87],"which":[88],"excel":[90],"simple":[93],"yes/no":[94],"questions":[95],"about":[96],"image":[97],"content,":[98],"providing":[99],"a":[100,116,131],"fair":[101],"models.":[108],"We":[109,126],"then":[110],"ask":[111],"there":[113],"already":[114],"exists":[115],"direction":[117,132],"embedding":[121],"space":[122],"associated":[123],"negation.":[125],"find":[127],"evidence":[128],"exists,":[133],"show":[135],"it":[137],"can":[138],"be":[139],"manipulated":[140],"test-time":[142],"intervention":[143],"via":[144],"representation":[145],"engineering":[146],"steer":[148],"toward":[150],"negation-aware":[151],"behavior":[152],"without":[153],"any":[154],"fine-tuning.":[155],"Finally,":[156],"test":[158],"non-common":[162],"image-text":[163],"samples":[164],"evaluate":[166],"generalization":[167],"under":[168],"distribution":[169],"shifts.":[170],"Code":[171],"https://github.com/fawazsammani/negation-steering":[174]},"counts_by_year":[],"updated_date":"2026-06-11T09:08:48.828518","created_date":"2026-03-25T00:00:00"}