📑 arXiv 1h ago
Learning to Construct Explicit Layouts Instills Spatial Understanding in LLMs
Reveals 'Read-Write Asymmetry' where LLMs interpret ASCII layouts well but struggle to produce them, showing that training on layout construction (Text→ASCII) improves spatial reasoning even without producing ASCII at inference. Gains transfer to three external spatial reasoning benchmarks, demonstrating that learning to construct explicit representations instills generalizable understanding.