From Backward Spreading to Forward Replay: Revisiting Target Construction in LLM Parameter Editing
LLM parameter editing methods commonly rely on computing an ideal target hidden-state at a target layer (referred as anchor point) and distributing the target vector to multiple preceding layers (commonly known as backward spreading) for cooperative editing. Although widely used for a long time, its underlying basis have not been systematically investigated. In this paper, we first conduct a systematic study of its foundations, which helps clarify its capability boundaries, practical considerations, and potential failure modes. Then, we propose a simple and elegant alternative that replaces backward spreading with forward-propagation. Instead of optimizing the target at the last editing l...
| Authors | Wei Liu, Hongkai Liu, Zhiying Deng et al. |
|---|---|
| Primary category | cs.CL |
| Published | 1 May 2026 |
| Last updated at source | 8 June 2026 |
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