# Learning to Learn from Language Feedback with Social Meta-Learning

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2602.16488 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2602.16488/

## Key facts

- Cited by 1 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 39 of its 44 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 18 Feb 2026.

## Builds on (most cited first, 30 of 39)

- [DeepSeekMath: Pushing the Limits of Mathematical Reasoning in Open Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2402.03300/) (2024)
- [LiveCodeBench: Holistic and Contamination Free Evaluation of Large Language Models for Code](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2403.07974/) (2024)
- [STaR: Bootstrapping Reasoning With Reasoning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2203.14465/) (2022)
- [RAFT: Reward rAnked FineTuning for Generative Foundation Model Alignment](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2304.06767/) (2023)
- [SFT Memorizes, RL Generalizes: A Comparative Study of Foundation Model Post-training](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2501.17161/) (2025)
- [A Prompt Pattern Catalog to Enhance Prompt Engineering with ChatGPT](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2302.11382/) (2023)
- [LLMs Get Lost In Multi-Turn Conversation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2505.06120/) (2025)
- [Training Language Models to Self-Correct via Reinforcement Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2409.12917/) (2024)
- [Understanding the Effects of RLHF on LLM Generalisation and Diversity](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2310.06452/) (2023)
- [Cognitive Behaviors that Enable Self-Improving Reasoners, or, Four Habits of Highly Effective STaRs](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2503.01307/) (2025)
- [MINT: Evaluating LLMs in Multi-turn Interaction with Tools and Language Feedback](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2309.10691/) (2023)
- [Omni-MATH: A Universal Olympiad Level Mathematic Benchmark For Large Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2410.07985/) (2024)
- [ArCHer: Training Language Model Agents via Hierarchical Multi-Turn RL](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2402.19446/) (2024)
- [A Survey on Recent Advances in LLM-Based Multi-turn Dialogue Systems](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2402.18013/) (2024)
- [Recursive Introspection: Teaching Language Model Agents How to Self-Improve](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2407.18219/) (2024)
- [Training Language Models with Language Feedback at Scale](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2303.16755/) (2023)
- [CollabLLM: From Passive Responders to Active Collaborators](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2502.00640/) (2025)
- [SWEET-RL: Training Multi-Turn LLM Agents on Collaborative Reasoning Tasks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2503.15478/) (2025)
- [STaR-GATE: Teaching Language Models to Ask Clarifying Questions](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2403.19154/) (2024)
- [SPIRAL: Self-Play on Zero-Sum Games Incentivizes Reasoning via Multi-Agent Multi-Turn Reinforcement Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2506.24119/) (2025)
- [Can large language models explore in-context?](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2403.15371/) (2024)
- [Modeling Future Conversation Turns to Teach LLMs to Ask Clarifying Questions](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2410.13788/) (2024)
- [QuestBench: Can LLMs ask the right question to acquire information in reasoning tasks?](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2503.22674/) (2025)
- [Beyond Single-Turn: A Survey on Multi-Turn Interactions with Large Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2504.04717/) (2025)
- [OpenCodeInstruct: A Large-scale Instruction Tuning Dataset for Code LLMs](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2504.04030/) (2025)
- [The Difficulty of Passive Learning in Deep Reinforcement Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2110.14020/) (2021)
- [Inferring Rewards from Language in Context](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2204.02515/) (2022)
- [Emergent Social Learning via Multi-agent Reinforcement Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2010.00581/) (2020)
- [Understanding User Experience in Large Language Model Interactions](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2401.08329/) (2024)
- [Thinking vs. Doing: Agents that Reason by Scaling Test-Time Interaction](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2506.07976/) (2025)

## Built on by (most cited first, 1 of 1)

- [What Drives Interactive Improvement from Feedback?](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2606.30774/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Large language models (LLMs) often struggle to learn from corrective feedback within a conversational context. They are rarely proactive in soliciting this feedback, even when faced with ambiguity, which can make their dialogues feel static, one-sided, and lacking the adaptive qualities of human conversation. To address these limitations, we draw inspiration from social meta-learning (SML) in humans - the process of learning how to learn from others. We formulate SML as a finetuning methodology, training LLMs to solicit and learn from language feedback in simulated pedagogical dialogues, where static tasks are converted into interactive social learning problems. SML effectively teaches models to use conversation to solve problems they are unable to solve in a single turn. This capability generalises across domains; SML on math problems produces models that better use feedback to solve coding problems and vice versa. Furthermore, despite being trained only on fully-specified problems, these models are better able to solve underspecified tasks where critical information is revealed over multiple turns. When faced with this ambiguity, SML-trained models make fewer premature answer attempts and are more likely to ask for the information they need. This work presents a scalable approach to developing AI systems that effectively learn from language feedback.