@inproceedings{hou-etal-2026-learn,
    title = "Learn Like Humans: Use Meta-cognitive Reflection for Efficient Self-Improvement",
    author = "Hou, Xinmeng  and
      Qu, Bohao  and
      Wang, Wuqi  and
      Gong, Peiliang  and
      Guo, Qing  and
      Liu, Yang",
    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://preview.aclanthology.org/ingest-acl/2026.acl-long.1329/",
    pages = "28802--28824",
    ISBN = "979-8-89176-390-6",
    abstract = "While Large Language Models (LLMs) enable complex autonomous behavior, current agents remain constrained by static, human-designed prompts that limit adaptability. Existing self-improving frameworks attempt to bridge this gap but typically rely on inefficient, multi-turn recursive loops that incur high computational costs. To address this, we propose Metacognitive Agent with Reflective Self-improvement (MARS), a framework that achieves efficient self-evolution within a single recurrence cycle. Inspired by educational psychology, MARS mimics human learning by integrating principle-based reflection (abstracting normative rules to avoid errors) and procedural reflection (deriving step-by-step strategies for success). By synthesizing these insights into optimized instructions, MARS allows agents to systematically refine their reasoning logic without continuous online feedback. Extensive experiments on six benchmarks demonstrate that MARS outperforms state-of-the-art self-evolving systems while significantly reducing computational overhead. Code is available at https://github.com/Paparare/MARS/tree/main"
}