Mapping Post-Training Forgetting in Language Models at Scale

Abstract

Scaled post-training now drives many of the largest capability gains in language models (LMs), yet its effect on pretrained knowledge remains poorly understood. Not all forgetting is equal: Forgetting one fact (e.g., a U.S. president or an API call) does not "average out" by recalling another. Hence, we propose a sample-wise paradigm to measure what is forgotten and when backward transfer occurs. Our metric counts 1->0 transitions (correct before post-training, incorrect after) to quantify forgetting and 0->1 transitions to quantify backward transfer. Traditional task averages conflate these effects and obscure large changes. For multiple-choice benchmarks, we add chance-adjusted variants that subtract the expected contribution of random guessing from pre- and post-training accuracies. We apply this framework across post-training stages, model sizes, and data scales. Our large-scale analysis shows that: (1) Domain-continual pretraining induces moderate forgetting with low-to-moderate backward transfer; (2) RL/SFT post-training applied to base models and Instruction tuning yields moderate-to-large backward transfer on math and logic with overall low-to-moderate forgetting; (3) Applying RL/SFT to instruction-tuned models is sensitive on data scale: at small scales, both forgetting and backward transfer are small; at larger scales, effects are mixed and warrant further study with better controls; (4) Model merging does not reliably mitigate forgetting. Overall, our framework offers a practical yardstick for mapping how post-training alters pretrained knowledge at scale -- enabling progress towards generally capable AI systems.

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