神经网络表示空间存在坐标自由度,导致相似性度量不可靠。
Gauge Freedom and Metric Dependence in Neural Representation Spaces
- 从几何视角看,表示空间具有一般线性群下的规范自由度。
- 插入可逆变换后,余弦相似度与最近邻结构可大幅扭曲但预测不变。
- 建议分析时使用规范不变量或固定坐标系,避免误读表示特性。
神经网络表示常被当作固定欧几里得空间中的向量分析,但其坐标并不唯一。若隐藏表示经可逆线性变换,仅需对下游权重施加逆变换即可保持网络函数不变,因此表示仅在可逆线性变换下定义。本文从该几何视角出发,将表示空间视为具有一般线性群规范自由的向量空间。在此框架下,如余弦相似度等常用相似性度量变为依赖度量的量,其值可在不改变模型函数的坐标变换下发生变化。这为文献中若干现象提供了统一解释,包括余弦相似度不稳定、嵌入空间各向异性,以及SVCCA和CKA等表示比较方法的吸引力。在多层感知机与卷积网络上的实验表明,向已训练模型中插入可逆变换可显著扭曲余弦相似度和最近邻结构,同时保持预测不变。结果表明,神经表示分析应聚焦于规范不变量或显式选择标准坐标。
原文摘要 · Abstract (English)
Neural network representations are often analyzed as vectors in a fixed Euclidean space. However, their coordinates are not uniquely defined. If a hidden representation is transformed by an invertible linear map, the network function can be preserved by applying the inverse transformation to downstream weights. Representations are therefore defined only up to invertible linear transformations. We study neural representation spaces from this geometric viewpoint and treat them as vector spaces with a gauge freedom under the general linear group. Within this framework, commonly used similarity measures such as cosine similarity become metric-dependent quantities whose values can change under coordinate transformations that leave the model function unchanged. This provides a common interpretation for several observations in the literature, including cosine-similarity instability, anisotropy in embedding spaces, and the appeal of representation comparison methods such as SVCCA and CKA. Experiments on multilayer perceptrons and convolutional networks confirm that inserting invertible transformations into trained models can substantially distort cosine similarity and nearest-neighbor structure while leaving predictions unchanged. These results indicate that analysis of neural representations should focus either on quantities that are invariant under this gauge freedom or on explicitly chosen canonical coordinates.
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