Representation Without Control: Testing the Realization Effect in Language Models

Ciarán Walsh; Emilio Barkett

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arXiv · 2605.25151

Representation Without Control: Testing the Realization Effect in Language Models

Ciarán Walsh·Emilio Barkett

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Abstract

Large language models are increasingly used as behavioral simulators, but it remains unclear when their outputs reflect human-like cognitive mechanisms rather than prompt-sensitive surface patterns. We study this question through the realization effect, a well-characterized finding in behavioral economics in which risk-taking differs systematically after paper versus realized gains and losses. We evaluate LLM behavior at three levels: prompt-only behavioral sensitivity, linear readout of internal representations, and causal control via activation steering. Prompt-only results show systematic condition sensitivity, but the directional pattern does not reproduce human realization-effect predictions. Gemma's residual stream contains a linearly decodable realization-status signal at layer 18 that generalizes to held-out prompts. Steering along this direction does not, however, reliably shift downstream risk choices, a null result that holds across positive scales and in a negative sign-symmetry run. Behavioral sensitivity, latent readout, and causal control are three distinct properties that do not automatically co-occur, and successful latent readout is insufficient evidence that a model behaviorally relies on a representation during downstream decision-making.

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Ciarán Walsh, Emilio Barkett. 2026-05-24. Representation Without Control: Testing the Realization Effect in Language Models. https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.25151

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