Localizing Anchoring Pathways in Language Models
Irrelevant numbers in a prompt can shift language model judgments, producing anchoring effects in numerical reasoning. We study where this anchor-sensitive signal is carried inside language models using a controlled multiple-choice setup with shared answer options. We define a logit-difference metric comparing the correct answer option with the answer option corresponding to the anchor, and validate that it tracks behavioral anchoring. Using attribution-based circuit localization on 7B--8B Qwen and Llama base and instruction-tuned models, we find that edge-level methods recover this signal more faithfully than node-level methods. Low- and high-anchor circuits transfer strongly within a mo...
| Authors | Hillary N. Owusu, Sarah Wiegreffe, Naomi H. Feldman |
|---|---|
| Primary category | cs.CL |
| Published | 11 June 2026 |
| Last updated at source | 11 June 2026 |
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