Leveraging Intermediate Neural Collapse with Simplex ETFs for Efficient Deep Neural Networks
Neural collapse is a phenomenon observed during the terminal phase of neural network training, characterized by the convergence of network activations, class means, and linear classifier weights to a simplex equiangular tight frame (ETF), a configuration of vectors that maximizes mutual distance within a subspace. This phenomenon has been linked to improved interpretability, robustness, and generalization in neural networks. However, its potential to guide neural network training and regularization remains underexplored. Previous research has demonstrated that constraining the final layer of a neural network to a simplex ETF can reduce the number of trainable parameters without sacrificing model accuracy. Furthermore, deep fully connected networks exhibit neural collapse not only in the final layer but across all layers beyond a specific effective depth. Using these insights, we propose two novel training approaches: Adaptive-ETF, a generalized framework that enforces simplex ETF constraints on all layers beyond the effective depth, and ETF-Transformer, which applies simplex ETF constraints to the feedforward layers within transformer blocks. We show that these approaches achieve training and testing performance comparable to those of their baseline counterparts while significantly reducing the number of learnable parameters.
Code (0)
등록된 구현이 없습니다.
Similar Papers 제목 키워드 기반
A Geometric Analysis of Neural Collapse with Unconstrained Features
We provide the first global optimization landscape analysis of $Neural\;Collapse$ -- an intriguing empirical phenomenon that arises in the last-layer classifiers and features of neural networks during the terminal phase …
global-optimizationProgressive Feedforward Collapse of ResNet Training
Neural collapse (NC) is a simple and symmetric phenomenon for deep neural networks (DNNs) at the terminal phase of training, where the last-layer features collapse to their class means and form a simplex equiangular tigh…
On the Robustness of Neural Collapse and the Neural Collapse of Robustness
Neural Collapse refers to the curious phenomenon in the end of training of a neural network, where feature vectors and classification weights converge to a very simple geometrical arrangement (a simplex). While it has be…
Guiding Neural Collapse: Optimising Towards the Nearest Simplex Equiangular Tight Frame
Neural Collapse (NC) is a recently observed phenomenon in neural networks that characterises the solution space of the final classifier layer when trained until zero training loss. Specifically, NC suggests that the fina…
Prevalence of Neural Collapse during the terminal phase of deep learning training
Modern practice for training classification deepnets involves a Terminal Phase of Training (TPT), which begins at the epoch where training error first vanishes; During TPT, the training error stays effectively zero while…
Inductive Bias