arXiv:2607.11990cs.LGcs.AI2026-07

发现Transformer FFN层神经元依赖少数前层激活,具备稀疏结构。

Sparse Inter-Layer Dependencies of Transformer FFN Neurons

论文配图:Sparse Inter-Layer Dependencies of Transformer FFN Neurons
图 1 · 摘自论文原文
  • 提出无需训练的归因方法,量化上游神经元与注意力输出的影响。
  • 仅保留少量关键输入,即可高保真还原目标神经元激活。
  • 适用于模型解释与高效推理,适合关注可解释性的研究者。

Feedforward network (FFN) 模块占了Transformer架构中大部分参数和计算量,但其内部结构因残差流的加性叠加难以解释。本文探究一个FFN神经元的激活能否由一组稀疏的前置神经元激活和注意力输出解释。提出一种无需训练的归因方法,用于估计上游神经元与注意力输出对目标神经元激活的相对影响。实验表明,在不同模型和层中,仅需少量前置激活和注意力输出即可在掩码其余输入为均值时,高保真地保持神经元激活。当考虑上游层固有的激活稀疏性时,有效稀疏性更高。进一步,若在所有层同时应用神经元特异性掩码,使偏差在网络中传播,模型困惑度在中等稀疏水平下基本不变。结果表明,尽管参数密集,FFN在神经元层面仍表现出稀疏且有结构的层间依赖关系。该方法为电路级可解释性提供实用、可扩展工具,并识别出潜在的稀疏路径,对高效推理具有启示意义。

原文摘要 · Abstract (English)

Feedforward network (FFN) blocks account for a large fraction of the parameters and computation in Transformer architectures, yet their internal structure remains difficult to interpret due to the additive superposition induced by the residual stream. We examine whether the activation of an FFN neuron can be explained by a sparse set of preceding neuron activations and attention outputs. We introduce a training-free attribution method that estimates the relative influence of upstream neurons and attention outputs on a target neuron's activation. Empirically, across models and layers, we find that small subsets of preceding activations and attention outputs suffice to preserve neuron activations with high fidelity when all remaining inputs are masked with their average values. Effective sparsity is even greater when accounting for the inherent activation sparsity of upstream layers. Moreover, applying the neuron-specific masks in all layers simultaneously, such that the induced deviations propagate through the network, leaves model perplexity largely unchanged at moderate sparsity levels. These results demonstrate that, despite dense parameterization, FFNs exhibit sparse and structured inter-layer dependencies at the neuron level. Our method provides a practical, scalable tool for circuit-level interpretability and identifies candidate sparse pathways with potential implications for efficient inference.

Transformer可解释性稀疏性神经元分析

Thank you to arXiv for use of its open access interoperability. PaperDance 不是 arXiv 官方产品;中文卡片由大模型生成,请以原文为准。