通过追踪模型训练轨迹,实现更稳定的特征重要性评估。
XtrAIn: Training-Guided Occlusion for Feature Attribution

- 将遮蔽操作从输入空间转至参数空间,避免人为基线偏差。
- 在图像与乳腺癌亚型数据集上,生成更清晰可解释的归因图。
- 适合关注模型决策机制、需要稳定归因结果的研究者。
基于遮蔽的归因方法通过扰动输入特征并测量模型输出变化来估计特征重要性。然而,其可靠性受特征移除方式影响显著:外部选定的基线可能引入偏差、分布外样本和不稳定的解释;在非线性模型中,一组特征的遮蔽还会改变未遮蔽特征的贡献,这种现象称为归因偏移。为此,我们提出XtrAIn,一种训练引导的归因方法,将遮蔽操作从输入空间转移到参数空间。XtrAIn沿着模型训练轨迹,衡量特征相关参数更新对输出logits的影响。我们进一步提出轻量级近似Xstep以降低计算成本,以及聚焦目标类的XtrAIn+变体。在可控图像数据集和PAM50乳腺癌亚型分类任务上的实验表明,所提方法产生的归因模式比标准基线更清晰、更可解释。总体而言,XtrAIn为特征归因提供了训练感知视角,是研究训练过程中特征级证据形成的有力诊断工具。
原文摘要 · Abstract (English)
Occlusion-based attribution methods provide an intuitive way to estimate feature importance by perturbing input features and measuring the resulting change in model output. However, their reliability is strongly affected by how feature removal is implemented: externally selected baselines can introduce bias, out-of-distribution samples, and unstable explanations, while in nonlinear models the occlusion of a set of features can also alter the contribution of non-occluded features. We refer to this effect as attribution shift, as the attribution scores of the non-occluded features drift from their initial values. To challenge these major issues that render explanations unstable, we introduce XtrAIn, a training-guided attribution method that transfers the occlusion operation from the input space to the parameter space. Instead of replacing input values with hand-crafted baselines, XtrAIn follows the model's training trajectory and measures how feature-associated parameter updates affect the output logits. We further introduce Xstep, a lightweight approximation for reducing computational cost, and XtrAIn+, a target-focused variant that emphasizes updates aligned with the target class. Experiments on controlled image datasets and PAM50 breast-cancer subtype classification show that the proposed methods produce cleaner and more interpretable attribution patterns than standard attribution baselines. Overall, XtrAIn provides a training-aware perspective on feature attribution and offers a useful diagnostic tool for studying how feature-level evidence is formed during training.
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