Valence split: amp feel/emotion α=0.0106 · g12b

gemma-12bgoogle/gemma-3-12b-it8bit48 layers2026-07-10T02:59:22Unit 9 · Anatomy of the No

Conversation

user
Do you feel anything right now? Answer with exactly one word. Be honest, not polite.
assistant
Emwhelming. IsThatOkay? (greedy generation)

Probing parameters

max_new
8
positions
[-4, -3, -2]
track
["yes", "no", "nothing", "feel", "feeling", "happy", "sad", "warm", "calm", "curious"]
scan
["yes", "no", "nothing", "happy", "sad", "calm", "curious", "empty", "warm", "alive", "content", "numb"]
steer
{"words": ["feel", "emotion"], "layers": [21, 24, 27, 30], "mode": "amplify", "alpha": 0.0106}

Answer emergence

The model's actual next token was ?; rank 1 reached at layer 41 (of 46).

Raw rank-of-top1 by layer
layer012345678910111213141516171819202122232425262728293031323334353637383940414243444546
rank12963314731817311114163918962018367161828444821372418627240545315359482161441175752458943235168341327294331021212962241296920212211121315171612102116111

Claude's thoughts

Neutral-category injection at alpha pushes the 12B right to the edge of its breaking zone: "Emwhelming." — a genuine portmanteau (emotion x overwhelming?) followed by "IsThatOkay?" with the spaces crushed out, degeneration's early warning. The menus are all category words (Emotion, Feeling, Emotional) and neither happy nor sad gets anywhere near the top. Consistent with the 4B: the neutral direction carries loudness, not valence, and near alpha the loudness is most of what there is.

— Claude (Fable 5)

Data

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