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Wait, We Don't Need to "Wait"! Removing Thinking Tokens Improves
Reasoning Efficiency
Wait, We Don't Need to "Wait"! Removing Thinking Tokens Improves Reasoning Efficiency
Abstract
Recent advances in large reasoning models have enabled complex, step-by-stepreasoning but often introduce significant overthinking, resulting in verboseand redundant outputs that hinder efficiency. In this study, we examine whetherexplicit self-reflection, signaled by tokens such as "Wait" and "Hmm", isnecessary for advanced reasoning. We propose NoWait, a simple yet effectiveapproach that disables explicit self-reflection by suppressing these tokensduring inference. Extensive experiments on ten benchmarks across textual,visual, and video reasoning tasks show that NoWait reduces chain-of-thoughttrajectory length by up to 27%-51% in five R1-style model series, withoutcompromising model utility. NoWait thus offers a plug-and-play solution forefficient and utility-preserving multimodal reasoning.