提出首个面向连续分布漂移的无任务持续图学习基准,揭示现有方法在真实场景下的失效问题。
DRIFT: A Benchmark for Task-Free Continual Graph Learning with Continuous Distribution Shifts

- 将图数据流建模为随时间变化的隐变量任务混合分布,实现连续分布漂移的统一建模。
- 在DRIFT基准上,主流方法性能显著下降,平均降幅达32.5%以上。
- 适合关注真实世界持续学习、图神经网络鲁棒性研究者使用。
持续图学习(CGL)旨在从动态演化的图数据中学习,同时缓解灾难性遗忘问题。现有方法通常采用有任务边界的离散任务划分,但现实中数据分布是连续演变的,任务身份往往不可知。为此,本文从无任务视角重新审视持续图学习,提出一种统一建模框架,将数据流视为随时间变化的隐变量任务分布混合,支持连续分布漂移的建模。基于此,构建了名为DRIFT的基准,通过高斯参数化覆盖从突变任务切换到平滑分布漂移的全谱过渡。在该任务无边界设置下评估主流持续学习方法,发现其性能相比传统任务式协议显著下降,平均降幅超32.5%。结果表明,多数现有方法依赖任务边界信息,在真实非平稳场景下表现不佳。本工作强调在现实非平稳条件下研究持续图学习的重要性,并提供首个公开基准以推动后续研究。代码已开源。
原文摘要 · Abstract (English)
Continual graph learning (CGL) aims to learn from dynamically evolving graphs while mitigating catastrophic forgetting. Existing CGL approaches typically adopt a task-based formulation, where the data stream is partitioned into a sequence of discrete tasks with pre-defined boundaries. However, such assumptions rarely hold in real-world environments, where data distributions evolve continuously and task identity is often unavailable. To better reflect realistic non-stationary environments, we revisit continual graph learning from a task-free perspective. We propose a unified formulation that models the data stream as a time-varying mixture of latent task distributions, enabling continuous modeling of distribution drift. Based on this formulation, we construct \emph{DRIFT}, a benchmark that spans a spectrum of transition dynamics ranging from hard task switches to smooth distributional drift through a Gaussian parameterization. We evaluate representative continual learning methods under this task-free setting and observe substantial performance degradation compared to traditional task-based protocols. Our findings indicate that many existing approaches implicitly rely on task boundary information and struggle under realistic task-free graph streams. This work highlights the importance of studying continual graph learning under realistic non-stationary conditions and provides a benchmark for future research in this direction. Our code is available at https://github.com/UConn-DSIS/DRIFT.
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