AINeutralarXiv – CS AI · 3h ago6/10
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The Shape of Overthinking: Backtracking Bursts in Long Reasoning Traces
Researchers analyzed backtracking patterns in reasoning traces from the Qwen3-8B model, finding that correct reasoning typically shows early, isolated self-corrections while incorrect reasoning exhibits persistent, clustered revisions occurring late in traces. The study demonstrates that burst-aware filtering of reasoning traces can improve model reliability by identifying unstable reasoning patterns before completion.