T-GRAB: A Synthetic Diagnostic Benchmark for Learning on Temporal Graphs

Fuente: arXiv
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Autori principali: Dizaji, Alireza, Tjandra, Benedict Aaron, Hamidi, Mehrab, Huang, Shenyang, Rabusseau, Guillaume
Natura: Preprint
Pubblicazione: 2025
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author Dizaji, Alireza
Tjandra, Benedict Aaron
Hamidi, Mehrab
Huang, Shenyang
Rabusseau, Guillaume
author_facet Dizaji, Alireza
Tjandra, Benedict Aaron
Hamidi, Mehrab
Huang, Shenyang
Rabusseau, Guillaume
contents Dynamic graph learning methods have recently emerged as powerful tools for modelling relational data evolving through time. However, despite extensive benchmarking efforts, it remains unclear whether current Temporal Graph Neural Networks (TGNNs) effectively capture core temporal patterns such as periodicity, cause-and-effect, and long-range dependencies. In this work, we introduce the Temporal Graph Reasoning Benchmark (T-GRAB), a comprehensive set of synthetic tasks designed to systematically probe the capabilities of TGNNs to reason across time. T-GRAB provides controlled, interpretable tasks that isolate key temporal skills: counting/memorizing periodic repetitions, inferring delayed causal effects, and capturing long-range dependencies over both spatial and temporal dimensions. We evaluate 11 temporal graph learning methods on these tasks, revealing fundamental shortcomings in their ability to generalize temporal patterns. Our findings offer actionable insights into the limitations of current models, highlight challenges hidden by traditional real-world benchmarks, and motivate the development of architectures with stronger temporal reasoning abilities. The code for T-GRAB can be found at: https://github.com/alirezadizaji/T-GRAB.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2507_10183
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle T-GRAB: A Synthetic Diagnostic Benchmark for Learning on Temporal Graphs
Dizaji, Alireza
Tjandra, Benedict Aaron
Hamidi, Mehrab
Huang, Shenyang
Rabusseau, Guillaume
Machine Learning
Dynamic graph learning methods have recently emerged as powerful tools for modelling relational data evolving through time. However, despite extensive benchmarking efforts, it remains unclear whether current Temporal Graph Neural Networks (TGNNs) effectively capture core temporal patterns such as periodicity, cause-and-effect, and long-range dependencies. In this work, we introduce the Temporal Graph Reasoning Benchmark (T-GRAB), a comprehensive set of synthetic tasks designed to systematically probe the capabilities of TGNNs to reason across time. T-GRAB provides controlled, interpretable tasks that isolate key temporal skills: counting/memorizing periodic repetitions, inferring delayed causal effects, and capturing long-range dependencies over both spatial and temporal dimensions. We evaluate 11 temporal graph learning methods on these tasks, revealing fundamental shortcomings in their ability to generalize temporal patterns. Our findings offer actionable insights into the limitations of current models, highlight challenges hidden by traditional real-world benchmarks, and motivate the development of architectures with stronger temporal reasoning abilities. The code for T-GRAB can be found at: https://github.com/alirezadizaji/T-GRAB.
title T-GRAB: A Synthetic Diagnostic Benchmark for Learning on Temporal Graphs
topic Machine Learning
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.10183