Investigating Out-of-Distribution Generalization of GNNs: An Architecture Perspective

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Guo, Kai, Wen, Hongzhi, Jin, Wei, Guo, Yaming, Tang, Jiliang, Chang, Yi
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
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author Guo, Kai
Wen, Hongzhi
Jin, Wei
Guo, Yaming
Tang, Jiliang
Chang, Yi
author_facet Guo, Kai
Wen, Hongzhi
Jin, Wei
Guo, Yaming
Tang, Jiliang
Chang, Yi
contents Graph neural networks (GNNs) have exhibited remarkable performance under the assumption that test data comes from the same distribution of training data. However, in real-world scenarios, this assumption may not always be valid. Consequently, there is a growing focus on exploring the Out-of-Distribution (OOD) problem in the context of graphs. Most existing efforts have primarily concentrated on improving graph OOD generalization from two \textbf{model-agnostic} perspectives: data-driven methods and strategy-based learning. However, there has been limited attention dedicated to investigating the impact of well-known \textbf{GNN model architectures} on graph OOD generalization, which is orthogonal to existing research. In this work, we provide the first comprehensive investigation of OOD generalization on graphs from an architecture perspective, by examining the common building blocks of modern GNNs. Through extensive experiments, we reveal that both the graph self-attention mechanism and the decoupled architecture contribute positively to graph OOD generalization. In contrast, we observe that the linear classification layer tends to compromise graph OOD generalization capability. Furthermore, we provide in-depth theoretical insights and discussions to underpin these discoveries. These insights have empowered us to develop a novel GNN backbone model, DGAT, designed to harness the robust properties of both graph self-attention mechanism and the decoupled architecture. Extensive experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of our model under graph OOD, exhibiting substantial and consistent enhancements across various training strategies.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2402_08228
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Investigating Out-of-Distribution Generalization of GNNs: An Architecture Perspective
Guo, Kai
Wen, Hongzhi
Jin, Wei
Guo, Yaming
Tang, Jiliang
Chang, Yi
Machine Learning
Artificial Intelligence
Graph neural networks (GNNs) have exhibited remarkable performance under the assumption that test data comes from the same distribution of training data. However, in real-world scenarios, this assumption may not always be valid. Consequently, there is a growing focus on exploring the Out-of-Distribution (OOD) problem in the context of graphs. Most existing efforts have primarily concentrated on improving graph OOD generalization from two \textbf{model-agnostic} perspectives: data-driven methods and strategy-based learning. However, there has been limited attention dedicated to investigating the impact of well-known \textbf{GNN model architectures} on graph OOD generalization, which is orthogonal to existing research. In this work, we provide the first comprehensive investigation of OOD generalization on graphs from an architecture perspective, by examining the common building blocks of modern GNNs. Through extensive experiments, we reveal that both the graph self-attention mechanism and the decoupled architecture contribute positively to graph OOD generalization. In contrast, we observe that the linear classification layer tends to compromise graph OOD generalization capability. Furthermore, we provide in-depth theoretical insights and discussions to underpin these discoveries. These insights have empowered us to develop a novel GNN backbone model, DGAT, designed to harness the robust properties of both graph self-attention mechanism and the decoupled architecture. Extensive experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of our model under graph OOD, exhibiting substantial and consistent enhancements across various training strategies.
title Investigating Out-of-Distribution Generalization of GNNs: An Architecture Perspective
topic Machine Learning
Artificial Intelligence
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2402.08228