可视化深度模型的不确定性来源,区分知识缺失与证据冲突。
Visualizing Uncertainty: Spatial Maps of Missing and Conflicting Evidence in Deep Learning

- 结合证据深度学习与全梯度激活映射,生成空间不确定性图。
- 能区分知识缺失(空虚)与证据矛盾(不一致)两类不确定性。
- 适合需要可解释性安全决策的视觉任务研究者使用。
理解深度神经网络在何时何地产生不确定性,对在高安全性领域部署可靠机器学习系统至关重要。现有不确定性量化方法仅提供模型置信度的标量值,难以揭示输入图像中哪些空间区域导致了不同类型的不确定性。本文提出一种新型可视化框架——不确定性激活图(UAM),融合证据深度学习(EDL)与全梯度类激活映射(FullGrad),生成可解释的空间不确定性激活图。该方法区分两种基本不确定性:空虚性(表示缺乏证据)与不一致性(反映竞争假设间的矛盾证据)。通过利用FullGrad的完整梯度分解特性与主观逻辑的严谨不确定性量化机制,本方法生成理论依据充分的可视化结果,精准定位模型不确定性的来源区域。通过信念加权归因计算,生成空虚性与不一致性激活图,帮助识别模型知识缺失或遭遇模糊证据的位置。在多个基准数据集上的广泛评估表明,该框架有效弥合了不确定性量化与可解释性之间的鸿沟,为复杂视觉识别任务中的模型可靠性评估提供直观的视觉反馈。
原文摘要 · Abstract (English)
Understanding when and why deep neural networks are uncertain is crucial for deploying reliable machine learning systems in safety-critical domains. While existing uncertainty quantification methods provide scalar measures of model confidence, they offer limited insight into which spatial regions of an input contribute to different types of uncertainty. We propose a novel visualization framework, Uncertainty Activation Map (UAM), that combines Evidential Deep Learning (EDL) with Full-Gradient Class Activation Mapping (FullGrad) to generate interpretable spatial uncertainty activation maps. Our approach distinguishes between two fundamental types of uncertainty: vacuity, representing lack of evidence, and dissonance, capturing conflicting evidence between competing hypotheses. By leveraging the complete gradient decomposition property of FullGrad and the principled uncertainty quantification of Subjective Logic, our method produces theoretically grounded visualizations that highlight specific image regions responsible for model uncertainty. With this framework, vacuity and dissonance activation maps are generated by computing belief-weighted attributions, enabling identification of where models lack knowledge versus where they encounter ambiguous evidence. Extensive evaluations across multiple benchmark datasets demonstrate that the proposed framework effectively addresses the critical gap between uncertainty quantification and explainability, providing intuitive visual feedback to assess model reliability in complex visual recognition tasks.
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