Eliciting Causal Abilities in Large Language Models for Reasoning Tasks

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Wang, Yajing, Luo, Zongwei, Wang, Jingzhe, Zhou, Zhanke, Chen, Yongqiang, Han, Bo
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
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author Wang, Yajing
Luo, Zongwei
Wang, Jingzhe
Zhou, Zhanke
Chen, Yongqiang
Han, Bo
author_facet Wang, Yajing
Luo, Zongwei
Wang, Jingzhe
Zhou, Zhanke
Chen, Yongqiang
Han, Bo
contents Prompt optimization automatically refines prompting expressions, unlocking the full potential of LLMs in downstream tasks. However, current prompt optimization methods are costly to train and lack sufficient interpretability. This paper proposes enhancing LLMs' reasoning performance by eliciting their causal inference ability from prompting instructions to correct answers. Specifically, we introduce the Self-Causal Instruction Enhancement (SCIE) method, which enables LLMs to generate high-quality, low-quantity observational data, then estimates the causal effect based on these data, and ultimately generates instructions with the optimized causal effect. In SCIE, the instructions are treated as the treatment, and textual features are used to process natural language, establishing causal relationships through treatments between instructions and downstream tasks. Additionally, we propose applying Object-Relational (OR) principles, where the uncovered causal relationships are treated as the inheritable class across task objects, ensuring low-cost reusability. Extensive experiments demonstrate that our method effectively generates instructions that enhance reasoning performance with reduced training cost of prompts, leveraging interpretable textual features to provide actionable insights.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2412_15314
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Eliciting Causal Abilities in Large Language Models for Reasoning Tasks
Wang, Yajing
Luo, Zongwei
Wang, Jingzhe
Zhou, Zhanke
Chen, Yongqiang
Han, Bo
Computation and Language
Artificial Intelligence
Prompt optimization automatically refines prompting expressions, unlocking the full potential of LLMs in downstream tasks. However, current prompt optimization methods are costly to train and lack sufficient interpretability. This paper proposes enhancing LLMs' reasoning performance by eliciting their causal inference ability from prompting instructions to correct answers. Specifically, we introduce the Self-Causal Instruction Enhancement (SCIE) method, which enables LLMs to generate high-quality, low-quantity observational data, then estimates the causal effect based on these data, and ultimately generates instructions with the optimized causal effect. In SCIE, the instructions are treated as the treatment, and textual features are used to process natural language, establishing causal relationships through treatments between instructions and downstream tasks. Additionally, we propose applying Object-Relational (OR) principles, where the uncovered causal relationships are treated as the inheritable class across task objects, ensuring low-cost reusability. Extensive experiments demonstrate that our method effectively generates instructions that enhance reasoning performance with reduced training cost of prompts, leveraging interpretable textual features to provide actionable insights.
title Eliciting Causal Abilities in Large Language Models for Reasoning Tasks
topic Computation and Language
Artificial Intelligence
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2412.15314