训练数据位置分布决定稠密检索器的偏见方向,均衡数据可显著降低偏差。
Is Position Bias in Dense Retrievers Built In-or Learned from Data?

- 通过构造不同位置的合成训练数据,测试训练分布对检索偏见的影响。
- 平衡训练使位置敏感度降低57%至87%,且保持良好检索性能。
- 该发现为缓解检索偏差提供了可操作的数据调控策略,适合系统优化者。
稠密检索器存在位置偏见,倾向于选择信息靠前的文档,导致信息靠后时性能下降。以往研究多从模型架构解释此现象,本文则考察训练数据中证据的位置分布如何影响检索层级的偏见方向。我们构建了证据位于开头、中间或末尾的合成训练集,对八种架构各异的预训练模型在位置倾斜与平衡分布下进行微调。在排序层面,所有模型均表现出明显方向性:训练分布偏向某位置,检索结果就偏好该位置。平衡训练使位置敏感度降低57%–87%,在控制环境下仍保持竞争力的平均检索性能。表示层分析表明,微调常会重塑位置偏好,但部分模型仍保留预训练或架构带来的固有倾向。结果表明,训练数据位置分布是可调控的主导因素,建议通过均衡数据收集来缓解检索偏见。
原文摘要 · Abstract (English)
Dense retrievers exhibit positional bias, favoring documents whose query-relevant information appears near the beginning and degrading retrieval performance when the information appears later. While prior work on positional bias in dense retrievers has largely focused on architectural explanations, we study how the positional distribution of evidence in training data affects retrieval-level bias direction. To test this, we construct synthetic position-targeted training sets in which query-relevant evidence appears at the beginning, middle, or end of documents, and fine-tune eight architecturally diverse pretrained models under position-skewed and balanced training distributions. At the ranking level, we observe a strong directional pattern across the examined models: skewed training distributions favor evidence at the corresponding positions. Position-balanced training reduces positional sensitivity by 57--87\% on position-aware benchmarks, with competitive mean retrieval performance in our controlled setting. Representation-level analyses further suggest that fine-tuning often reshapes learned positional preferences, although pre-existing architectural or pretraining-specific tendencies persist in some models. These results identify training-position distribution as a major controllable factor in retrieval-level position bias and suggest balanced data curation as a practical mitigation strategy.
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