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Autori principali: Xu, Wei, Jiang, Xiaoyi, Xu, Lixiang, Tang, Dechao
Natura: Preprint
Pubblicazione: 2025
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Accesso online:https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.17378
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author Xu, Wei
Jiang, Xiaoyi
Xu, Lixiang
Tang, Dechao
author_facet Xu, Wei
Jiang, Xiaoyi
Xu, Lixiang
Tang, Dechao
contents In recent years, deep neural networks have been extensively employed in perceptual systems to learn representations endowed with invariances, aiming to emulate the invariance mechanisms observed in the human brain. However, studies in the visual and auditory domains have confirmed that significant gaps remain between the invariance properties of artificial neural networks and those of humans. To investigate the invariance behavior within graph neural networks (GNNs), we introduce a model ``metamers'' generation technique. By optimizing input graphs such that their internal node activations match those of a reference graph, we obtain graphs that are equivalent in the model's representation space, yet differ significantly in both structure and node features. Our theoretical analysis focuses on two aspects: the local metamer dimension for a single node and the activation-induced volume change of the metamer manifold. Utilizing this approach, we uncover extreme levels of representational invariance across several classic GNN architectures. Although targeted modifications to model architecture and training strategies can partially mitigate this excessive invariance, they fail to fundamentally bridge the gap to human-like invariance. Finally, we quantify the deviation between metamer graphs and their original counterparts, revealing unique failure modes of current GNNs and providing a complementary benchmark for model evaluation.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2510_17378
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Model Metamers Reveal Invariances in Graph Neural Networks
Xu, Wei
Jiang, Xiaoyi
Xu, Lixiang
Tang, Dechao
Machine Learning
In recent years, deep neural networks have been extensively employed in perceptual systems to learn representations endowed with invariances, aiming to emulate the invariance mechanisms observed in the human brain. However, studies in the visual and auditory domains have confirmed that significant gaps remain between the invariance properties of artificial neural networks and those of humans. To investigate the invariance behavior within graph neural networks (GNNs), we introduce a model ``metamers'' generation technique. By optimizing input graphs such that their internal node activations match those of a reference graph, we obtain graphs that are equivalent in the model's representation space, yet differ significantly in both structure and node features. Our theoretical analysis focuses on two aspects: the local metamer dimension for a single node and the activation-induced volume change of the metamer manifold. Utilizing this approach, we uncover extreme levels of representational invariance across several classic GNN architectures. Although targeted modifications to model architecture and training strategies can partially mitigate this excessive invariance, they fail to fundamentally bridge the gap to human-like invariance. Finally, we quantify the deviation between metamer graphs and their original counterparts, revealing unique failure modes of current GNNs and providing a complementary benchmark for model evaluation.
title Model Metamers Reveal Invariances in Graph Neural Networks
topic Machine Learning
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.17378