发现模型延迟泛化源于数据分布偏移,而非数据稀疏。
Grokking Explained: A Statistical Phenomenon
- 通过控制类别采样不均衡制造分布偏移,重现延迟泛化现象。
- 小样本并非根本原因,而是实现分布偏移的便捷手段。
- 即使数据密集且无调参,仍可出现延迟泛化,适合研究训练停止策略。
Grokking(延迟泛化)是一种学习现象,即模型在训练损失收敛后,测试损失才突然下降,挑战了深度学习训练动态的传统理解。本文形式化并研究了grokking,指出其关键在于训练与测试数据间的分布偏移。我们设计了两个合成数据集:一个用于分析有限采样的影响,另一个探究迁移学习的作用。通过受控的子类别采样不均衡诱导分布偏移,系统性复现该现象。结果表明,尽管小样本与grokking强相关,但并非成因;它仅是实现必要分布偏移的便利机制。当类别构成等变映射时,模型可通过相似类别学习实现grokking。不同于先前认为grokking主要源于高正则化和稀疏数据的观点,我们证明其亦可在密集数据和极少超参数调优下发生。研究深化了对grokking的理解,为未来训练过程中的停止准则设计提供新思路。
原文摘要 · Abstract (English)
Grokking, or delayed generalization, is an intriguing learning phenomenon where test set loss decreases sharply only after a model's training set loss has converged. This challenges conventional understanding of the training dynamics in deep learning networks. In this paper, we formalize and investigate grokking, highlighting that a key factor in its emergence is a distribution shift between training and test data. We introduce two synthetic datasets specifically designed to analyze grokking. One dataset examines the impact of limited sampling, and the other investigates transfer learning's role in grokking. By inducing distribution shifts through controlled imbalanced sampling of sub-categories, we systematically reproduce the phenomenon, demonstrating that while small-sampling is strongly associated with grokking, it is not its cause. Instead, small-sampling serves as a convenient mechanism for achieving the necessary distribution shift. We also show that when classes form an equivariant map, grokking can be explained by the model's ability to learn from similar classes or sub-categories. Unlike earlier work suggesting that grokking primarily arises from high regularization and sparse data, we demonstrate that it can also occur with dense data and minimal hyper-parameter tuning. Our findings deepen the understanding of grokking and pave the way for developing better stopping criteria in future training processes.
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