arXiv:2410.02348cs.LGstat.ML2024-10ICML被引 11

发现两层ReLU网络在过参数化下会因简单性偏好而避开过拟合,提升泛化性能。

Simplicity bias and optimization threshold in two-layer ReLU networks

  • 训练早期神经元方向对齐,产生简单性偏好
  • 超过优化阈值后不再完全拟合数据,测试误差显著下降
  • 适合关注泛化机制与模型简化的研究者

理解过参数化神经网络的泛化能力仍是机器学习中的基本挑战。现有研究多从插值视角出发,假设参数能收敛至训练损失全局最小。然而在更复杂的任务如上下文学习或扩散模型中,随着训练样本数超过某个临界值(称作优化阈值),模型反而从全局最小转向非平凡的局部最小,此时模型对真实损失的估计更优。本文针对两层ReLU网络,理论揭示:即使过参数化,网络仍倾向收敛至更简单的解而非完全插值训练数据,从而大幅降低测试损失。分析依赖于‘早期对齐’阶段——神经元在训练初期向特定方向对齐,导致简单性偏差,使网络逼近真实模型而不必达到训练损失全局最小。结果表明,该偏差引发的优化阈值现象有益于泛化。

原文摘要 · Abstract (English)

Understanding generalization of overparametrized neural networks remains a fundamental challenge in machine learning. Most of the literature mostly studies generalization from an interpolation point of view, taking convergence of parameters towards a global minimum of the training loss for granted. While overparametrized architectures indeed interpolated the data for typical classification tasks, this interpolation paradigm does not seem valid anymore for more complex tasks such as in-context learning or diffusion. Instead for such tasks, it has been empirically observed that the trained models goes from global minima to spurious local minima of the training loss as the number of training samples becomes larger than some level we call optimization threshold. While the former yields a poor generalization to the true population loss, the latter was observed to actually correspond to the minimiser of this true loss. This paper explores theoretically this phenomenon in the context of two-layer ReLU networks. We demonstrate that, despite overparametrization, networks often converge toward simpler solutions rather than interpolating the training data, which can lead to a drastic improvement on the test loss with respect to interpolating solutions. Our analysis relies on the so called early alignment phase, during which neurons align towards specific directions. This directional alignment, which occurs in the early stage of training, leads to a simplicity bias, wherein the network approximates the ground truth model without converging to the global minimum of the training loss. Our results suggest that this bias, resulting in an optimization threshold from which interpolation is not reached anymore, is beneficial and enhances the generalization of trained models.

神经网络泛化能力简单性偏好两层网络

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