Search for Truth from Reasoning: A Dynamic Representation Editing Framework for Steering LLM Trajectories
Tianlong Wang, Yuhang Wang, Weibin Liao, Xin Gao, Xinyu Ma, Yang Lin, Yasha Wang, Liantao Ma
Abstract
Current approaches to enhance Large Language Model (LLM) reasoning, such as Chain-of-Thought and "Wait" prompts, primarily encourage models to think more, yet often fail to guide them toward Truth. While Representation Editing (RepE) offers a intrinsic control, its application to dynamic reasoning trajectories remains underexplored. In this work, we bridge this gap by investigating the geometry of truth within unfolding reasoning chains. We uncover three critical insights: (1) Truth is encoded at the sentence level and is entangled with latent reasoning patterns; (2) Effective intervention follows an Uncertainty Principle and a Decay Effect, requiring localization to early, high-entropy forks; (3) Naive steering vectors suffer from noise, risking collateral damage to correct trajectories. Based on these findings, we propose DynaSteer, a dynamic RepE framework. DynaSteer employs pattern clustering to disentangle reasoning manifolds and utilizes Fisher-LDA to project purified truth. By dynamically monitoring lookahead entropy, it selectively steers and rolls back trajectories only when necessary. Comprehensive experimental results on several MATH benchmark verify the effectiveness of DynaSteer, and experiments on out-of-domain coding tasks further confirm its generalization ability. Our code is publicly available at https: //github.com/tianlwang/DynaSteer .
Ask about this paper
Your agent reads all of it.
Lune indexed this paper to the last equation, along with the top-tier papers that cite it. Ask a question and the answer quotes them.
Your agent calls
Luneget_paper_fulltext
Free to start. No credit card required.
Terminal
Install the CLIlune papers fulltext 2949923b-1541-4f7f-a1bb-96d5e0af710cBuilds on22
- Chain-of-Thought Prompting Elicits Reasoning in Large Language ModelsJason Wei, Xuezhi Wang, Dale Schuurmans, Maarten Bosma et al.NeurIPS 2022 · 22,562 citations
- Tree of Thoughts: Deliberate Problem Solving with Large Language ModelsShunyu Yao, Dian Yu, Jeffrey Zhao, Izhak Shafran et al.NeurIPS 2023 · 5,068 citations
- Locating and Editing Factual Associations in GPTKevin Meng, David Bau, Alex Andonian, Yonatan BelinkovNeurIPS 2022 · 3,415 citations
- Let's Verify Step by StepHunter Lightman, Vineet Kosaraju, Yuri Burda, Harrison Edwards et al.ICLR 2024 · 3,045 citations
- Is Your Code Generated by ChatGPT Really Correct? Rigorous Evaluation of Large Language Models for Code GenerationJiawei Liu, Chunqiu Steven Xia, Yuyao Wang, Lingming ZhangNeurIPS 2023 · 2,317 citations
Related papers
- LLM Reasoning as Trajectories: Step-Specific Representation Geometry and Correctness SignalsLihao Sun, Hang Dong, Bo Qiao, Qingwei Lin et al.ACL 2026 · 9 citations
- Dissecting Failure Dynamics in Large Language Model ReasoningWei Zhu, Jian Zhang, Lixing Yu, Kun Yue et al.ACL 2026 · 2 citations
- HyperEdit: Mitigating Hallucinations of Large Language Models via Hyperbolic Representation EditingTongxu Lin, Junping Du, Zhe Xue, Meiyu Liang et al.KDD 2026
- DOTS: Learning to Reason Dynamically in LLMs via Optimal Reasoning Trajectories SearchMurong Yue, Wenlin Yao, Haitao Mi, Dian Yu et al.ICLR 2025
- Characterizing and Mitigating Reasoning Drift in Large Language ModelsYufeng Zhang, Xuepeng Wang, Lingxiang Wu, Jinqiao WangICLR 2026
