Guardado en:
Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Jun, James P, Marupudi, Vijay, Shah, Raj Sanjay, Varma, Sashank
Formato: Preprint
Publicado: 2025
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.11393
Etiquetas: Agregar Etiqueta
Sin Etiquetas, Sea el primero en etiquetar este registro!
_version_ 1866915391104614400
author Jun, James P
Marupudi, Vijay
Shah, Raj Sanjay
Varma, Sashank
author_facet Jun, James P
Marupudi, Vijay
Shah, Raj Sanjay
Varma, Sashank
contents Learning new information without forgetting prior knowledge is central to human intelligence. In contrast, neural network models suffer from catastrophic forgetting: a significant degradation in performance on previously learned tasks when acquiring new information. The Complementary Learning Systems (CLS) theory offers an explanation for this human ability, proposing that the brain has distinct systems for pattern separation (encoding distinct memories) and pattern completion (retrieving complete memories from partial cues). To capture these complementary functions, we leverage the representational generalization capabilities of variational autoencoders (VAEs) and the robust memory storage properties of Modern Hopfield networks (MHNs), combining them into a neurally plausible continual learning model. We evaluate this model on the Split-MNIST task, a popular continual learning benchmark, and achieve close to state-of-the-art accuracy (~90%), substantially reducing forgetting. Representational analyses empirically confirm the functional dissociation: the VAE underwrites pattern completion, while the MHN drives pattern separation. By capturing pattern separation and completion in scalable architectures, our work provides a functional template for modeling memory consolidation, generalization, and continual learning in both biological and artificial systems.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2507_11393
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle A Neural Network Model of Complementary Learning Systems: Pattern Separation and Completion for Continual Learning
Jun, James P
Marupudi, Vijay
Shah, Raj Sanjay
Varma, Sashank
Machine Learning
Learning new information without forgetting prior knowledge is central to human intelligence. In contrast, neural network models suffer from catastrophic forgetting: a significant degradation in performance on previously learned tasks when acquiring new information. The Complementary Learning Systems (CLS) theory offers an explanation for this human ability, proposing that the brain has distinct systems for pattern separation (encoding distinct memories) and pattern completion (retrieving complete memories from partial cues). To capture these complementary functions, we leverage the representational generalization capabilities of variational autoencoders (VAEs) and the robust memory storage properties of Modern Hopfield networks (MHNs), combining them into a neurally plausible continual learning model. We evaluate this model on the Split-MNIST task, a popular continual learning benchmark, and achieve close to state-of-the-art accuracy (~90%), substantially reducing forgetting. Representational analyses empirically confirm the functional dissociation: the VAE underwrites pattern completion, while the MHN drives pattern separation. By capturing pattern separation and completion in scalable architectures, our work provides a functional template for modeling memory consolidation, generalization, and continual learning in both biological and artificial systems.
title A Neural Network Model of Complementary Learning Systems: Pattern Separation and Completion for Continual Learning
topic Machine Learning
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.11393