English

Decomposing LLM Self-Correction: The Accuracy-Correction Paradox and Error Depth Hypothesis

Artificial Intelligence 2026-01-06 v1

Abstract

Large Language Models (LLMs) are widely believed to possess self-correction capabilities, yet recent studies suggest that intrinsic self-correction--where models correct their own outputs without external feedback--remains largely ineffective. In this work, we systematically decompose self-correction into three distinct sub-capabilities: error detection, error localization, and error correction. Through cross-model experiments on GSM8K-Complex (n=500 per model, 346 total errors) with three major LLMs, we uncover a striking Accuracy-Correction Paradox: weaker models (GPT-3.5, 66% accuracy) achieve 1.6x higher intrinsic correction rates than stronger models (DeepSeek, 94% accuracy)--26.8% vs 16.7%. We propose the Error Depth Hypothesis: stronger models make fewer but deeper errors that resist self-correction. Error detection rates vary dramatically across architectures (10% to 82%), yet detection capability does not predict correction success--Claude detects only 10% of errors but corrects 29% intrinsically. Surprisingly, providing error location hints hurts all models. Our findings challenge linear assumptions about model capability and self-improvement, with important implications for the design of self-refinement pipelines.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2601.00828,
  title  = {Decomposing LLM Self-Correction: The Accuracy-Correction Paradox and Error Depth Hypothesis},
  author = {Yin Li},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2601.00828},
  year   = {2026}
}

Comments

9 pages, 2 figures, 3 tables. Code available at https://github.com/Kevin0304-li/llm-self-correction

R2 v1 2026-07-01T08:48:47.043Z