Implicit vs. Explicit Prompting Strategies for LVLMs in Referential Communication
Peter Zeng, Amie J. Paige, Weiling Li, Susan E. Brennan, Owen Rambow, Cameron R. Jones
Abstract
Two recent studies (Jones et al. (2026); Zeng et al. (2026)) reach apparently contradictory conclusions about whether LVLMs can coordinate on efficient referring expressions. We control for task differences between the studies while directly comparing their prompting styles. We replicate the finding that models can coordinate efficient referring expressions when explicitly prompted to do so, suggesting that other task differences are not responsible for divergent results. However, we also find that the same models fail to infer the need for communicative efficiency from a more implicit prompt, highlighting critical differences between how humans and AI systems communicate.
Topics
Classified with taxonomy v2 on Wed, 2 Sept 2026.