对比LLM与普通编码器的文本嵌入泛化能力,发现SLERP融合能更好平衡任务性能与通用性。
Evaluating Embedding Generalization: How LLMs, LoRA, and SLERP Shape Representational Geometry
- 用数论性质序列测试嵌入质量,控制实验环境保证可比性
- LLM嵌入擅长捕捉复杂模式但易受适配器干扰,导致泛化下降
- SLERP融合比模型拼接更优,兼顾任务表现与结构稳定性
我们研究了当嵌入主干为大语言模型(LLM)或非LLM编码器时,密集文本嵌入的泛化能力,并探讨球面线性插值(SLERP)模型融合在缓解任务特定适应(如LoRA)带来的过度专业化方面的作用。为使比较具体且领域无关,我们设计了一套受控实验:模型对短数值序列进行嵌入,并根据明确的数论性质进行聚类与分类评估。实验对比四类模型:(1) 从头训练或微调的非LLM编码器;(2) 使用参数高效方法(LoRA)适配的LLM编码器;(3) 经过LoRA适配后通过模型拼接(model souping)合并到基础权重的LLM;(4) 使用SLERP在检查点或阶段间融合的相同LoRA适配的LLM。通过轮廓系数(Silhouette)和戴维斯-布尔丁指数(Davies Bouldin)评估表示质量。此外,分析k-means标签以检验嵌入是否包含测试外信息。实证发现,基于LLM的主干能更好捕捉高阶、组合性数值模式,但易受适配器主导,损害均衡泛化;而SLERP融合持续恢复基础模型结构,同时保留大部分任务收益,相比模型拼接或其他未融合模型,在聚类可分性与鲁棒性上表现更优。
原文摘要 · Abstract (English)
We investigate the generalization properties of dense text embeddings when the embedding backbone is a large language model (LLM) versus when it is a non-LLM encoder, and we study the extent to which spherical linear interpolation (SLERP) model-merging mitigates over-specialization introduced by task-specific adaptation (e.g., LoRA). To make the comparison concrete and domain-agnostic, we design a controlled suite of experiments in which models embed short numerical sequences and are evaluated on their ability to cluster and classify those sequences according to well-defined number-theoretic properties. Our experimental protocol compares four families of models: (1) non-LLM encoders trained from scratch or fine-tuned for embeddings, (2) LLM-based encoders adapted with parameter-efficient methods (LoRA), (3) LLM-based encoders with LoRA followed by model souping merging into the base weights, and (4) the same LoRA-adapted LLMs merged using SLERP across checkpoints or stages. We evaluate representational quality with clustering indices (Silhouette and Davies Bouldin). We additionally analyze the use of kmeans labels to see if the embeddings encode any other information besides the one we are testing for. Empirically, we find that LLM-based backbones produce embeddings that better capture higher-order, compositional numeric patterns, but are prone to adapter dominance that degrades balanced generalization; SLERP merging consistently recovers base-model structure while retaining most task gains, yielding superior tradeoffs in clustering separability, and robustness compared to model souping or models that were not merged.
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