RNN通过特定动力学机制模拟隐马尔可夫模型的离散行为,揭示其内在可解释性。
Mechanistic Interpretability of RNNs emulating Hidden Markov Models
- RNN通过噪声维持的环形轨迹实现离散状态切换
- 训练后网络形成结构化连接,仅少数'触发神经元'驱动状态转移
- 该机制在多种模型架构中通用,具可组合性
循环神经网络(RNN)在神经科学中被用于推断神经群体的潜在动态并生成关于行为神经计算的假设。然而以往研究多关注简单、输入驱动且基本确定性的行为,对自然环境中更丰富、自发且可能具有随机性的行为机制了解甚少。隐马尔可夫模型(HMM)揭示了自然行为可分割为离散的潜在状态,并在状态间存在随机转移,这与RNN所实现的连续状态空间似乎存在矛盾。本文首先展示RNN可复现HMM的发射统计,随后反向解析训练后的网络以揭示其内在机制。无输入时,网络活动收敛至单一固定点;有随机输入时,轨迹呈现沿闭合轨道的噪声维持动力学。轨道旋转调节发射概率,由慢速噪声驱动区域间的快速确定性跃迁所主导。训练后的RNN发展出高度结构化的连接,仅少数‘触发神经元’负责状态转移。这一机制在训练过程中因进入随机共振态而出现,使网络具备概率计算能力。跨多种HMM架构(全连接、循环、线性链)的分析表明,该解法具有泛化性,通过模块化复用相同动力学模式,暗示了RNN模拟复杂离散潜动态的组合原则。
原文摘要 · Abstract (English)
Recurrent neural networks (RNNs) provide a powerful approach in neuroscience to infer latent dynamics in neural populations and to generate hypotheses about the neural computations underlying behavior. However, past work has focused on relatively simple, input-driven, and largely deterministic behaviors - little is known about the mechanisms that would allow RNNs to generate the richer, spontaneous, and potentially stochastic behaviors observed in natural settings. Modeling with Hidden Markov Models (HMMs) has revealed a segmentation of natural behaviors into discrete latent states with stochastic transitions between them, a type of dynamics that may appear at odds with the continuous state spaces implemented by RNNs. Here we first show that RNNs can replicate HMM emission statistics and then reverse-engineer the trained networks to uncover the mechanisms they implement. In the absence of inputs, the activity of trained RNNs collapses towards a single fixed point. When driven by stochastic input, trajectories instead exhibit noise-sustained dynamics along closed orbits. Rotation along these orbits modulates the emission probabilities and is governed by transitions between regions of slow, noise-driven dynamics connected by fast, deterministic transitions. The trained RNNs develop highly structured connectivity, with a small set of "kick neurons" initiating transitions between these regions. This mechanism emerges during training as the network shifts into a regime of stochastic resonance, enabling it to perform probabilistic computations. Analyses across multiple HMM architectures - fully connected, cyclic, and linear-chain - reveal that this solution generalizes through the modular reuse of the same dynamical motif, suggesting a compositional principle by which RNNs can emulate complex discrete latent dynamics.
Thank you to arXiv for use of its open access interoperability. PaperDance 不是 arXiv 官方产品;中文卡片由大模型生成,请以原文为准。