Look Again, Think Slowly: Enhancing Visual Reflection in Vision-Language Models

• URL: http://arxiv.org/abs/2509.12132v1
• Date: Mon, 15 Sep 2025 16:57:25 GMT
• Title: Look Again, Think Slowly: Enhancing Visual Reflection in Vision-Language Models
• Authors: Pu Jian, Junhong Wu, Wei Sun, Chen Wang, Shuo Ren, Jiajun Zhang,
• Abstract summary: Recent advances in text-only "slow-thinking" reasoning have prompted efforts to transfer this capability to vision-language models (VLMs)<n>We propose a new VRM textbfReflection-V, which enhances visual reflection based on reasoning data construction for cold-start and reward design for reinforcement learning (RL)<n>textbfReflection-V demonstrates significant improvements across multiple visual reasoning benchmarks.
• Score: 21.588467647421865
• License: http://arxiv.org/licenses/nonexclusive-distrib/1.0/
• Abstract: Recent advances in text-only "slow-thinking" reasoning have prompted efforts to transfer this capability to vision-language models (VLMs), for training visual reasoning models (\textbf{VRMs}). owever, such transfer faces critical challenges: Effective "slow thinking" in VRMs requires \textbf{visual reflection}, the ability to check the reasoning process based on visual information. Through quantitative analysis, we observe that current VRMs exhibit limited visual reflection, as their attention to visual information diminishes rapidly with longer generated responses. To address this challenge, we propose a new VRM \textbf{Reflection-V}, which enhances visual reflection based on reasoning data construction for cold-start and reward design for reinforcement learning (RL). Firstly, we construct vision-centered reasoning data by leveraging an agent that interacts between VLMs and reasoning LLMs, enabling cold-start learning of visual reflection patterns. Secondly, a visual attention based reward model is employed during RL to encourage reasoning based on visual information. Therefore, \textbf{Reflection-V} demonstrates significant improvements across multiple visual reasoning benchmarks. Furthermore, \textbf{Reflection-V} maintains a stronger and more consistent reliance on visual information during visual reasoning, indicating effective enhancement in visual reflection capabilities.

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