@inproceedings{bai-etal-2026-one,
title = "One Cognitive Loop Is Enough: {SODA} unlocks Pure-Text Spatial Reasoning in Large Language Models",
author = "Bai, Shunwen and
Zhang, Jiahuan and
Huang, Haoran and
Wang, Yurun and
Liu, Jiale and
Wu, Yanxi and
Yu, Ningzhe and
Gao, Yudong and
Cheng, Mingjun",
editor = "Liakata, Maria and
Moreira, Viviane P. and
Zhang, Jiajun and
Jurgens, David",
booktitle = "Proceedings of the 64th Annual Meeting of the {A}ssociation for {C}omputational {L}inguistics (Volume 1: Long Papers)",
month = jul,
year = "2026",
address = "San Diego, California, United States",
publisher = "Association for Computational Linguistics",
url = "https://aclanthology.org/2026.acl-long.1382/",
pages = "29974--29996",
ISBN = "979-8-89176-390-6",
abstract = "Currently, large language models (LLMs) have significant limitations in spatial reasoning, particularly in the absence of visual input. To address this issue, we introduce SODA (Spatial OODA), which draws inspiration from the OODA cognitive loop (Observe, Orient, Decide, Act), originally designed to enhance human decision-making in dynamic environments. Specifically, we embed the OODA loop into multiple control tasks, generating the SPOD-143k dataset, and successfully integrate it into LLMs through a two-phase and spatia-aware training strategy (SFT and GRPO). Furthermore, to fill the gap in evaluating spatial reasoning in purely text-based LLMs, we introduce the SPOD-Bench benchmark, including multiple tasks divided into three levels of difficulty. Experimental results show that SODA significantly enhances the spatial reasoning capabilities of LLMs across testing scenarios including SPOD-Bench, SPACE and applications, providing a replicable and effective paradigm for improving the spatial cognition of LLMs."
}<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<modsCollection xmlns="http://www.loc.gov/mods/v3">
<mods ID="bai-etal-2026-one">
<titleInfo>
<title>One Cognitive Loop Is Enough: SODA unlocks Pure-Text Spatial Reasoning in Large Language Models</title>
</titleInfo>
<name type="personal">
<namePart type="given">Shunwen</namePart>
<namePart type="family">Bai</namePart>
<role>
<roleTerm authority="marcrelator" type="text">author</roleTerm>
</role>
</name>
<name type="personal">
<namePart type="given">Jiahuan</namePart>
<namePart type="family">Zhang</namePart>
<role>
<roleTerm authority="marcrelator" type="text">author</roleTerm>
</role>
</name>
<name type="personal">
<namePart type="given">Haoran</namePart>
<namePart type="family">Huang</namePart>
<role>
<roleTerm authority="marcrelator" type="text">author</roleTerm>
</role>
</name>
<name type="personal">
<namePart type="given">Yurun</namePart>
<namePart type="family">Wang</namePart>
<role>
<roleTerm authority="marcrelator" type="text">author</roleTerm>
</role>
</name>
<name type="personal">
<namePart type="given">Jiale</namePart>
<namePart type="family">Liu</namePart>
<role>
<roleTerm authority="marcrelator" type="text">author</roleTerm>
</role>
</name>
<name type="personal">
<namePart type="given">Yanxi</namePart>
<namePart type="family">Wu</namePart>
<role>
<roleTerm authority="marcrelator" type="text">author</roleTerm>
</role>
</name>
<name type="personal">
<namePart type="given">Ningzhe</namePart>
<namePart type="family">Yu</namePart>
<role>
<roleTerm authority="marcrelator" type="text">author</roleTerm>
</role>
</name>
<name type="personal">
<namePart type="given">Yudong</namePart>
<namePart type="family">Gao</namePart>
<role>
<roleTerm authority="marcrelator" type="text">author</roleTerm>
</role>
</name>
<name type="personal">
<namePart type="given">Mingjun</namePart>
<namePart type="family">Cheng</namePart>
<role>
<roleTerm authority="marcrelator" type="text">author</roleTerm>
</role>
</name>
<originInfo>
<dateIssued>2026-07</dateIssued>
</originInfo>
<typeOfResource>text</typeOfResource>
<relatedItem type="host">
<titleInfo>
<title>Proceedings of the 64th Annual Meeting of the Association for Computational Linguistics (Volume 1: Long Papers)</title>
</titleInfo>
<name type="personal">
<namePart type="given">Maria</namePart>
<namePart type="family">Liakata</namePart>
<role>
<roleTerm authority="marcrelator" type="text">editor</roleTerm>
</role>
</name>
<name type="personal">
<namePart type="given">Viviane</namePart>
<namePart type="given">P</namePart>
<namePart type="family">Moreira</namePart>
<role>
<roleTerm authority="marcrelator" type="text">editor</roleTerm>
</role>
</name>
<name type="personal">
<namePart type="given">Jiajun</namePart>
<namePart type="family">Zhang</namePart>
<role>
<roleTerm authority="marcrelator" type="text">editor</roleTerm>
</role>
</name>
<name type="personal">
<namePart type="given">David</namePart>
<namePart type="family">Jurgens</namePart>
<role>
<roleTerm authority="marcrelator" type="text">editor</roleTerm>
</role>
</name>
<originInfo>
<publisher>Association for Computational Linguistics</publisher>
<place>
<placeTerm type="text">San Diego, California, United States</placeTerm>
</place>
</originInfo>
<genre authority="marcgt">conference publication</genre>
<identifier type="isbn">979-8-89176-390-6</identifier>
</relatedItem>
<abstract>Currently, large language models (LLMs) have significant limitations in spatial reasoning, particularly in the absence of visual input. To address this issue, we introduce SODA (Spatial OODA), which draws inspiration from the OODA cognitive loop (Observe, Orient, Decide, Act), originally designed to enhance human decision-making in dynamic environments. Specifically, we embed the OODA loop into multiple control tasks, generating the SPOD-143k dataset, and successfully integrate it into LLMs through a two-phase and spatia-aware training strategy (SFT and GRPO). Furthermore, to fill the gap in evaluating spatial reasoning in purely text-based LLMs, we introduce the SPOD-Bench benchmark, including multiple tasks divided into three levels of difficulty. Experimental results show that SODA significantly enhances the spatial reasoning capabilities of LLMs across testing scenarios including SPOD-Bench, SPACE and applications, providing a replicable and effective paradigm for improving the spatial cognition of LLMs.</abstract>
<identifier type="citekey">bai-etal-2026-one</identifier>
<location>
<url>https://aclanthology.org/2026.acl-long.1382/</url>
</location>
<part>
<date>2026-07</date>
<extent unit="page">
<start>29974</start>
<end>29996</end>
</extent>
</part>
</mods>
</modsCollection>
%0 Conference Proceedings
%T One Cognitive Loop Is Enough: SODA unlocks Pure-Text Spatial Reasoning in Large Language Models
%A Bai, Shunwen
%A Zhang, Jiahuan
%A Huang, Haoran
%A Wang, Yurun
%A Liu, Jiale
%A Wu, Yanxi
%A Yu, Ningzhe
%A Gao, Yudong
%A Cheng, Mingjun
%Y Liakata, Maria
%Y Moreira, Viviane P.
%Y Zhang, Jiajun
%Y Jurgens, David
%S Proceedings of the 64th Annual Meeting of the Association for Computational Linguistics (Volume 1: Long Papers)
%D 2026
%8 July
%I Association for Computational Linguistics
%C San Diego, California, United States
%@ 979-8-89176-390-6
%F bai-etal-2026-one
%X Currently, large language models (LLMs) have significant limitations in spatial reasoning, particularly in the absence of visual input. To address this issue, we introduce SODA (Spatial OODA), which draws inspiration from the OODA cognitive loop (Observe, Orient, Decide, Act), originally designed to enhance human decision-making in dynamic environments. Specifically, we embed the OODA loop into multiple control tasks, generating the SPOD-143k dataset, and successfully integrate it into LLMs through a two-phase and spatia-aware training strategy (SFT and GRPO). Furthermore, to fill the gap in evaluating spatial reasoning in purely text-based LLMs, we introduce the SPOD-Bench benchmark, including multiple tasks divided into three levels of difficulty. Experimental results show that SODA significantly enhances the spatial reasoning capabilities of LLMs across testing scenarios including SPOD-Bench, SPACE and applications, providing a replicable and effective paradigm for improving the spatial cognition of LLMs.
%U https://aclanthology.org/2026.acl-long.1382/
%P 29974-29996
Markdown (Informal)
[One Cognitive Loop Is Enough: SODA unlocks Pure-Text Spatial Reasoning in Large Language Models](https://aclanthology.org/2026.acl-long.1382/) (Bai et al., ACL 2026)
ACL
- Shunwen Bai, Jiahuan Zhang, Haoran Huang, Yurun Wang, Jiale Liu, Yanxi Wu, Ningzhe Yu, Yudong Gao, and Mingjun Cheng. 2026. One Cognitive Loop Is Enough: SODA unlocks Pure-Text Spatial Reasoning in Large Language Models. In Proceedings of the 64th Annual Meeting of the Association for Computational Linguistics (Volume 1: Long Papers), pages 29974–29996, San Diego, California, United States. Association for Computational Linguistics.