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Main Authors: Ren, Yinuo, Ma, Chao, Ying, Lexing
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
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Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2401.11600
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author Ren, Yinuo
Ma, Chao
Ying, Lexing
author_facet Ren, Yinuo
Ma, Chao
Ying, Lexing
contents Why do neural networks trained with large learning rates for a longer time often lead to better generalization? In this paper, we delve into this question by examining the relation between training and testing loss in neural networks. Through visualization of these losses, we note that the training trajectory with a large learning rate navigates through the minima manifold of the training loss, finally nearing the neighborhood of the testing loss minimum. Motivated by these findings, we introduce a nonlinear model whose loss landscapes mirror those observed for real neural networks. Upon investigating the training process using SGD on our model, we demonstrate that an extended phase with a large learning rate steers our model towards the minimum norm solution of the training loss, which may achieve near-optimal generalization, thereby affirming the empirically observed benefits of late learning rate decay.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2401_11600
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Understanding the Generalization Benefits of Late Learning Rate Decay
Ren, Yinuo
Ma, Chao
Ying, Lexing
Machine Learning
Why do neural networks trained with large learning rates for a longer time often lead to better generalization? In this paper, we delve into this question by examining the relation between training and testing loss in neural networks. Through visualization of these losses, we note that the training trajectory with a large learning rate navigates through the minima manifold of the training loss, finally nearing the neighborhood of the testing loss minimum. Motivated by these findings, we introduce a nonlinear model whose loss landscapes mirror those observed for real neural networks. Upon investigating the training process using SGD on our model, we demonstrate that an extended phase with a large learning rate steers our model towards the minimum norm solution of the training loss, which may achieve near-optimal generalization, thereby affirming the empirically observed benefits of late learning rate decay.
title Understanding the Generalization Benefits of Late Learning Rate Decay
topic Machine Learning
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2401.11600