通过控制参数更新的秩,实现持续学习中记忆与新知的平衡。
Take Only What You Need: Rank Minimization as an Implicit Forgetting Regularizer in Continual Learning
- 用秩最小化约束LoRA更新,动态选择重要参数
- 中等秩在不同任务和模块间表现最佳,避免过度遗忘
- 适合需要长期学习且保留旧知识的场景
持续学习的核心矛盾在于可塑性(获取新知识)与稳定性(保留旧知识)之间的权衡。本文研究如何在不破坏已有能力的前提下,持续更新预训练主干网络。通过控制每步参数更新的有效秩(一种可在LoRA更新中直接调节的量),我们发现:在不同模块与任务中,存在一个随位置和任务变化的中等秩‘甜点’,无通用最优固定秩;理论证明遗忘随秩增长而增加。基于此,提出CoDyRA方法,联合训练时通过稀疏性正则化对每个组件的重要性权重进行秩最小化。监督目标驱动可塑性,秩最小化抑制遗忘。实验证明,该方法作为隐式遗忘正则项,在MTIL、X-TAIL、TRACE(CLIP、LLaMA、Gemma)上均优于现有方法,在新知识学习与遗忘控制之间取得强平衡。代码已开源。
原文摘要 · Abstract (English)
The central tension in continual learning (CL) is the trade-off between plasticity (acquiring new knowledge) and stability (retaining prior knowledge). We study how a pre-trained backbone can be continually updated to absorb new knowledge while preserving existing capabilities, via capacity control: regulating the effective rank of each parameter update, a per-step quantity directly controllable inside a LoRA update. A controlled probe of LoRA rank and placement across modules and tasks reveals a consistent trade-off, with a moderate-rank sweet spot that varies by placement and task, leaving no universally optimal fixed rank; a formal bound shows forgetting grows with rank. Building on these findings, we propose Continual Dynamic Rank-Selective LoRA (CoDyRA), which jointly trains each LoRA update with rank minimization via sparsity-promoting regularization on per-component importance weights. The supervised objective drives plasticity; rank minimization regularizes forgetting. We show that rank minimization serves as an implicit forgetting regularizer in the CL regime, protecting general capability and prior-task knowledge simultaneously by controlling forgetting against the current model state. Across MTIL, X-TAIL, and TRACE (CLIP, LLaMA, Gemma), CoDyRA outperforms prior CL methods on new knowledge learning and forgetting, achieving a strong plasticity-stability balance. Code is available at https://github.com/jeff024/codyra.
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