How connectivity structure shapes rich and lazy learning in neural circuits

Fuente: arXiv
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Hauptverfasser: Liu, Yuhan Helena, Baratin, Aristide, Cornford, Jonathan, Mihalas, Stefan, Shea-Brown, Eric, Lajoie, Guillaume
Format: Preprint
Veröffentlicht: 2023
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author Liu, Yuhan Helena
Baratin, Aristide
Cornford, Jonathan
Mihalas, Stefan
Shea-Brown, Eric
Lajoie, Guillaume
author_facet Liu, Yuhan Helena
Baratin, Aristide
Cornford, Jonathan
Mihalas, Stefan
Shea-Brown, Eric
Lajoie, Guillaume
contents In theoretical neuroscience, recent work leverages deep learning tools to explore how some network attributes critically influence its learning dynamics. Notably, initial weight distributions with small (resp. large) variance may yield a rich (resp. lazy) regime, where significant (resp. minor) changes to network states and representation are observed over the course of learning. However, in biology, neural circuit connectivity could exhibit a low-rank structure and therefore differs markedly from the random initializations generally used for these studies. As such, here we investigate how the structure of the initial weights -- in particular their effective rank -- influences the network learning regime. Through both empirical and theoretical analyses, we discover that high-rank initializations typically yield smaller network changes indicative of lazier learning, a finding we also confirm with experimentally-driven initial connectivity in recurrent neural networks. Conversely, low-rank initialization biases learning towards richer learning. Importantly, however, as an exception to this rule, we find lazier learning can still occur with a low-rank initialization that aligns with task and data statistics. Our research highlights the pivotal role of initial weight structures in shaping learning regimes, with implications for metabolic costs of plasticity and risks of catastrophic forgetting.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2310_08513
institution arXiv
publishDate 2023
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle How connectivity structure shapes rich and lazy learning in neural circuits
Liu, Yuhan Helena
Baratin, Aristide
Cornford, Jonathan
Mihalas, Stefan
Shea-Brown, Eric
Lajoie, Guillaume
Neural and Evolutionary Computing
Artificial Intelligence
Neurons and Cognition
In theoretical neuroscience, recent work leverages deep learning tools to explore how some network attributes critically influence its learning dynamics. Notably, initial weight distributions with small (resp. large) variance may yield a rich (resp. lazy) regime, where significant (resp. minor) changes to network states and representation are observed over the course of learning. However, in biology, neural circuit connectivity could exhibit a low-rank structure and therefore differs markedly from the random initializations generally used for these studies. As such, here we investigate how the structure of the initial weights -- in particular their effective rank -- influences the network learning regime. Through both empirical and theoretical analyses, we discover that high-rank initializations typically yield smaller network changes indicative of lazier learning, a finding we also confirm with experimentally-driven initial connectivity in recurrent neural networks. Conversely, low-rank initialization biases learning towards richer learning. Importantly, however, as an exception to this rule, we find lazier learning can still occur with a low-rank initialization that aligns with task and data statistics. Our research highlights the pivotal role of initial weight structures in shaping learning regimes, with implications for metabolic costs of plasticity and risks of catastrophic forgetting.
title How connectivity structure shapes rich and lazy learning in neural circuits
topic Neural and Evolutionary Computing
Artificial Intelligence
Neurons and Cognition
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2310.08513