arXiv:2605.15688stat.MLcs.AI2026-05

改进概念激活向量测试,让模型解释更稳定可靠。

$α$-TCAV: A Unified Framework for Testing with Concept Activation Vectors

论文配图:$α$-TCAV: A Unified Framework for Testing with Concept Activation Vectors
图 1 · 摘自论文原文
  • 用平滑函数替代原有不连续判定,统一多种TCAV方法
  • 证明传统TCAV分数方差不降反增,理论不成立
  • 建议集中采样资源测一个概念,效率更高

概念激活向量(CAVs)是深度学习中基于概念的可解释性基础工具,但其实际应用受限于统计不稳定性。本文分析了CAV及其测试方法(TCAV)的随机特性,推导出PatternCAV、FastCAV及基于岭回归的CAV等主要类别的分布。发现标准TCAV分数依赖不连续指示函数,在关键区域导致方差不衰减。为此提出α-TCAV,以参数化光滑函数替代指示函数,构建统一的概率框架,涵盖TCAV与Multi-TCAV。我们刻画了敏感度分数及不同TCAV变体的分布,表明现有主流选择缺乏理论支持。提供α参数调优的合理依据:可低代价模拟Multi-TCAV,或获得贝叶斯最优的校准概率度量。最后分析得出实践建议:将全部采样预算集中于单个CAV,而非分散使用,显著提升效率。

原文摘要 · Abstract (English)

Concept Activation Vectors (CAVs) are a fundamental tool for concept-based explainability in deep learning, yet their practical utility is limited by statistical instability. We analyze the stochastic nature of CAVs and the Testing with CAVs (TCAV) method, deriving the distributions of major CAV classes including PatternCAV, FastCAV, and ridge regression-based CAVs. We then identify a fundamental flaw in the standard TCAV score: its reliance on a discontinuous indicator function induces non-decaying variance in critical regimes. To address this, we introduce $α$-TCAV, a generalized framework that replaces the indicator with a parameterized smooth function, yielding a unified probabilistic formulation that subsumes both TCAV and Multi-TCAV. We characterize the induced distributions of sensitivity scores and different TCAV variants, showing that established state-of-the-art choices lack theoretical justification. We provide principled guidance on tuning the parameter in $α$-TCAV -- either to imitate Multi-TCAV at substantially lower computational cost, or to obtain a calibrated Bayes-optimal probabilistic measure of a concept's influence. Finally, our analysis yields practical recommendations that challenge established routines: most notably, allocating the full sampling budget to a single CAV rather than splitting it across several.

可解释性CAV概率建模模型评估

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