mlsanityData to 7 Oct 2026

If I Could Turn Back Time: Temporal Reframing as a Historical Reasoning Task for LLMs

arXiv 2511.04432 ↗First posted 6 Nov 2025cs.CLcited by 1

On the map: LLM reasoning → Knowledge- and tool-augmented reasoning

Abstract (arXiv)

In this study, we experiment with the ability of LLMs to do temporal reasoning. Using a Norwegian book from 1940 containing trivia questions, we prompt the LLMs to answer the questions as if it were 1940. We also pose the questions in both English and Norwegian. Correct answers are often presented as sentences, and grading is done by means of LLM-as-judge, with sampled checks by a native speaker. Prompting in English consistently gave better results than in Norwegian, an unexpected result. In contrast, using larger LLMs improved results. We tested the DeepSeek-R1, Gemma3, Qwen3, and Llama3.1 model families, and also the largest available LLM especially crafted for Norwegian.

Key facts. Cited by 1 paper in the map (data through 7 Oct 2026). Placed in Knowledge- and tool-augmented reasoning, one of 17 directions in LLM reasoning. Builds on 16 of its 26 references that are in the map. First posted on arXiv 6 Nov 2025.

Builds on

16 of 26 references.

Closest ancestors · 4

Same direction, newest first

  1. 2025SealQA: Raising the Bar for Reasoning in Search-Augmented Language Models1 Jun
  2. 2025TIME: A Multi-level Benchmark for Temporal Reasoning of LLMs in Real-World Scenarios19 May
  3. 2024Towards Effective Time-Aware Language Representation: Exploring Enhanced Temporal Understanding in Language Models4 Jun
  4. 2023Towards Benchmarking and Improving the Temporal Reasoning Capability of Large Language Models15 Jun

Other references · 12

  1. 2024The Llama 3 Herd of Modelscited by 14,192
  2. 2025Qwen3 Technical Reportcited by 8,195
  3. 2025DeepSeek-R1: Incentivizing Reasoning Capability in LLMs via Reinforcement Learningcited by 6,146
  4. 2025gpt-oss-120b & gpt-oss-20b Model Cardcited by 1,258
  5. 2023A Survey on Evaluation of Large Language Modelscited by 1,227
  6. 2023Gemini: A Family of Highly Capable Multimodal Modelscited by 810
  7. 2024LLMs-as-Judges: A Comprehensive Survey on LLM-based Evaluation Methodscited by 451
  8. 2021A Dataset for Answering Time-Sensitive Questionscited by 150
  9. 2024A Survey of Useful LLM Evaluationcited by 28
  10. 2025Toward Generalizable Evaluation in the LLM Era: A Survey Beyond Benchmarkscited by 26
  11. 2024UnSeenTimeQA: Time-Sensitive Question-Answering Beyond LLMs' Memorizationcited by 17
  12. 2024The Impact of Copyrighted Material on Large Language Models: A Norwegian Perspectivecited by 8

Built on by

Cited by year (2026 to 7 Oct)

Citing papers per year: 2026: 1.

1 paper.

  1. 2026LLMs Should Incorporate Explicit Mechanisms for Human Empathycited by 0

Similar, not cited

Close in wording, no citation either way

  1. 2024Test of Time: A Benchmark for Evaluating LLMs on Temporal Reasoning
  2. 2023MenatQA: A New Dataset for Testing the Temporal Comprehension and Reasoning Abilities of Large Language Models
  3. 2025A Study into Investigating Temporal Robustness of LLMs
  4. 2025TRAVELER: A Benchmark for Evaluating Temporal Reasoning across Vague, Implicit and Explicit References
  5. 2025TransientTables: Evaluating LLMs' Reasoning on Temporally Evolving Semi-structured Tables
  6. 2025Learning to Reason Over Time: Timeline Self-Reflection for Improved Temporal Reasoning in Language Models
  7. 2024Enhancing Temporal Understanding in LLMs for Semi-structured Tables
  8. 2025None of the Others: a General Technique to Distinguish Reasoning from Memorization in Multiple-Choice LLM Evaluation Benchmarks