{"id":"https://openalex.org/W7152046033","doi":"https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.2604.04943","title":"The Illusion of Latent Generalization: Bi-directionality and the Reversal Curse","display_name":"The Illusion of Latent Generalization: Bi-directionality and the Reversal Curse","publication_year":2026,"publication_date":"2026-03-13","ids":{"openalex":"https://openalex.org/W7152046033","doi":"https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.2604.04943"},"language":null,"primary_location":{"id":"doi:10.48550/arxiv.2604.04943","is_oa":true,"landing_page_url":"https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.2604.04943","pdf_url":null,"source":{"id":"https://openalex.org/S4306400194","display_name":"arXiv (Cornell University)","issn_l":"2331-8422","issn":["2331-8422"],"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":"Preprint"},"type":"preprint","indexed_in":["datacite"],"open_access":{"is_oa":true,"oa_status":"green","oa_url":"https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.2604.04943","any_repository_has_fulltext":true},"authorships":[{"author_position":"first","author":{"id":"https://openalex.org/A5089420217","display_name":"Julian Coda-Forno","orcid":null},"institutions":[],"countries":[],"is_corresponding":false,"raw_author_name":"Coda-Forno, Julian","raw_affiliation_strings":[],"raw_orcid":null,"affiliations":[]},{"author_position":"middle","author":{"id":"https://openalex.org/A5133197034","display_name":"Jane X. Wang","orcid":null},"institutions":[],"countries":[],"is_corresponding":false,"raw_author_name":"Wang, Jane X.","raw_affiliation_strings":[],"raw_orcid":null,"affiliations":[]},{"author_position":"last","author":{"id":"https://openalex.org/A5038288567","display_name":"Arslan Chaudhry","orcid":null},"institutions":[],"countries":[],"is_corresponding":false,"raw_author_name":"Chaudhry, Arslan","raw_affiliation_strings":[],"raw_orcid":null,"affiliations":[]}],"institutions":[],"countries_distinct_count":0,"institutions_distinct_count":0,"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/T12090","display_name":"Language and cultural evolution","score":0.23759999871253967,"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":0.23759999871253967,"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":0.10119999945163727,"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/T11307","display_name":"Domain Adaptation and Few-Shot Learning","score":0.0729999989271164,"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"}}],"keywords":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/generalization","display_name":"Generalization","score":0.6366999745368958},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/representation","display_name":"Representation (politics)","score":0.6284000277519226},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/curse","display_name":"Curse","score":0.5634999871253967},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/autoregressive-model","display_name":"Autoregressive model","score":0.508400022983551},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/illusion","display_name":"Illusion","score":0.48080000281333923},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/perspective","display_name":"Perspective (graphical)","score":0.45680001378059387},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/curse-of-dimensionality","display_name":"Curse of dimensionality","score":0.3799000084400177},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/signal","display_name":"SIGNAL (programming language)","score":0.3569999933242798}],"concepts":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/C177148314","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q170084","display_name":"Generalization","level":2,"score":0.6366999745368958},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C2776359362","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q2145286","display_name":"Representation (politics)","level":3,"score":0.6284000277519226},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C41008148","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q21198","display_name":"Computer science","level":0,"score":0.5681999921798706},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C2780273121","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q109411","display_name":"Curse","level":2,"score":0.5634999871253967},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C159877910","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q2202883","display_name":"Autoregressive model","level":2,"score":0.508400022983551},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C154945302","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q11660","display_name":"Artificial intelligence","level":1,"score":0.4894999861717224},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C184047640","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q182593","display_name":"Illusion","level":2,"score":0.48080000281333923},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C12713177","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1900281","display_name":"Perspective (graphical)","level":2,"score":0.45680001378059387},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C119857082","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q2539","display_name":"Machine learning","level":1,"score":0.43050000071525574},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C111030470","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1430460","display_name":"Curse of dimensionality","level":2,"score":0.3799000084400177},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C2779843651","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7390335","display_name":"SIGNAL (programming language)","level":2,"score":0.3569999933242798},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C75165309","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q2258979","display_name":"Search engine indexing","level":2,"score":0.3547999858856201},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C137293760","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q3621696","display_name":"Language model","level":2,"score":0.353300005197525},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C180747234","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q23373","display_name":"Cognitive psychology","level":1,"score":0.3327000141143799},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C116834253","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q2039217","display_name":"Identification (biology)","level":2,"score":0.31859999895095825},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C149782125","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q160039","display_name":"Econometrics","level":1,"score":0.3107999861240387},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C11413529","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q8366","display_name":"Algorithm","level":1,"score":0.30079999566078186},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C182306322","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1779371","display_name":"Order (exchange)","level":2,"score":0.29989999532699585},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C204321447","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q30642","display_name":"Natural language processing","level":1,"score":0.2928999960422516},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C51632099","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q3985153","display_name":"Training set","level":2,"score":0.28859999775886536},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C22019652","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q331309","display_name":"Overfitting","level":3,"score":0.27630001306533813},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C2780400661","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q8154361","display_name":"Wishful thinking","level":2,"score":0.2508000135421753},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C195324797","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q33742","display_name":"Natural language","level":2,"score":0.2506999969482422}],"mesh":[],"locations_count":1,"locations":[{"id":"doi:10.48550/arxiv.2604.04943","is_oa":true,"landing_page_url":"https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.2604.04943","pdf_url":null,"source":{"id":"https://openalex.org/S4306400194","display_name":"arXiv (Cornell University)","issn_l":"2331-8422","issn":["2331-8422"],"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":"Preprint"}],"best_oa_location":{"id":"doi:10.48550/arxiv.2604.04943","is_oa":true,"landing_page_url":"https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.2604.04943","pdf_url":null,"source":{"id":"https://openalex.org/S4306400194","display_name":"arXiv (Cornell University)","issn_l":"2331-8422","issn":["2331-8422"],"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":"Preprint"},"sustainable_development_goals":[],"awards":[],"funders":[],"has_content":{"pdf":false,"grobid_xml":false},"content_urls":null,"referenced_works_count":0,"referenced_works":[],"related_works":[],"abstract_inverted_index":{"The":[0],"reversal":[1,49,73,90,155],"curse":[2],"describes":[3],"a":[4,12,57,78,101,113,118,169],"failure":[5],"of":[6,82,117,162],"autoregressive":[7],"language":[8,60],"models":[9],"to":[10,55,67,112],"retrieve":[11],"fact":[13],"in":[14],"reverse":[15,132],"order":[16],"(e.g.,":[17,37],"training":[18,70,93],"on":[19,25],"``$A":[20],"&gt;":[21],"B$''":[22],"but":[23],"failing":[24],"``$B":[26],"&lt;":[27],"A$'').":[28],"Recent":[29],"work":[30],"shows":[31],"that":[32,89,95,109,150],"objectives":[33,85],"with":[34,128,137],"bidirectional":[35,38],"supervision":[36],"attention":[39],"or":[40],"masking-based":[41,69,145],"reconstruction":[42],"for":[43,141],"decoder-only":[44,68,144],"models)":[45],"can":[46,153],"mitigate":[47],"the":[48,98,160],"curse.":[50],"We":[51,87],"extend":[52],"this":[53],"evaluation":[54],"include":[56],"vanilla":[58],"masked":[59],"modeling":[61],"(MLM)":[62],"objective":[63],"and":[64,75,104,123,131],"compare":[65],"it":[66],"across":[71],"four":[72],"benchmarks":[74],"then":[76],"provide":[77],"minimal":[79],"mechanistic":[80],"study":[81],"\\emph{how}":[83],"these":[84],"succeed.":[86],"show":[88],"accuracy":[91],"requires":[92],"signal":[94],"explicitly":[96],"makes":[97],"source":[99],"entity":[100],"prediction":[102],"target,":[103],"we":[105],"find":[106],"little":[107],"evidence":[108],"success":[110],"corresponds":[111],"single":[114],"direction-agnostic":[115],"representation":[116,121],"fact.":[119],"Instead,":[120],"distances":[122],"linear":[124],"probes":[125],"are":[126],"consistent":[127],"storing":[129],"forward":[130],"directions":[133],"as":[134],"distinct":[135],"entries,":[136],"different":[138],"indexing":[139],"geometry":[140],"MLM":[142],"versus":[143],"training.":[146],"Our":[147],"results":[148],"caution":[149],"objective-level":[151],"``fixes''":[152],"improve":[154],"behavior":[156],"without":[157],"necessarily":[158],"inducing":[159],"kind":[161],"latent":[163],"generalization":[164],"one":[165],"might":[166],"expect":[167],"from":[168],"unified":[170],"concept.":[171]},"counts_by_year":[],"updated_date":"2026-07-28T07:46:37.118299","created_date":"2026-04-09T00:00:00"}
