ShapeX: Shapelet-Driven Post Hoc Explanations for Time Series Classification Models

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Huang, Bosong, Jin, Ming, Liang, Yuxuan, Barthelemy, Johan, Cheng, Debo, Wen, Qingsong, Liu, Chenghao, Pan, Shirui
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Huang, Bosong
Jin, Ming
Liang, Yuxuan
Barthelemy, Johan
Cheng, Debo
Wen, Qingsong
Liu, Chenghao
Pan, Shirui
author_facet Huang, Bosong
Jin, Ming
Liang, Yuxuan
Barthelemy, Johan
Cheng, Debo
Wen, Qingsong
Liu, Chenghao
Pan, Shirui
contents Explaining time series classification models is crucial, particularly in high-stakes applications such as healthcare and finance, where transparency and trust play a critical role. Although numerous time series classification methods have identified key subsequences, known as shapelets, as core features for achieving state-of-the-art performance and validating their pivotal role in classification outcomes, existing post-hoc time series explanation (PHTSE) methods primarily focus on timestep-level feature attribution. These explanation methods overlook the fundamental prior that classification outcomes are predominantly driven by key shapelets. To bridge this gap, we present ShapeX, an innovative framework that segments time series into meaningful shapelet-driven segments and employs Shapley values to assess their saliency. At the core of ShapeX lies the Shapelet Describe-and-Detect (SDD) framework, which effectively learns a diverse set of shapelets essential for classification. We further demonstrate that ShapeX produces explanations which reveal causal relationships instead of just correlations, owing to the atomicity properties of shapelets. Experimental results on both synthetic and real-world datasets demonstrate that ShapeX outperforms existing methods in identifying the most relevant subsequences, enhancing both the precision and causal fidelity of time series explanations.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2510_20084
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle ShapeX: Shapelet-Driven Post Hoc Explanations for Time Series Classification Models
Huang, Bosong
Jin, Ming
Liang, Yuxuan
Barthelemy, Johan
Cheng, Debo
Wen, Qingsong
Liu, Chenghao
Pan, Shirui
Machine Learning
Artificial Intelligence
Explaining time series classification models is crucial, particularly in high-stakes applications such as healthcare and finance, where transparency and trust play a critical role. Although numerous time series classification methods have identified key subsequences, known as shapelets, as core features for achieving state-of-the-art performance and validating their pivotal role in classification outcomes, existing post-hoc time series explanation (PHTSE) methods primarily focus on timestep-level feature attribution. These explanation methods overlook the fundamental prior that classification outcomes are predominantly driven by key shapelets. To bridge this gap, we present ShapeX, an innovative framework that segments time series into meaningful shapelet-driven segments and employs Shapley values to assess their saliency. At the core of ShapeX lies the Shapelet Describe-and-Detect (SDD) framework, which effectively learns a diverse set of shapelets essential for classification. We further demonstrate that ShapeX produces explanations which reveal causal relationships instead of just correlations, owing to the atomicity properties of shapelets. Experimental results on both synthetic and real-world datasets demonstrate that ShapeX outperforms existing methods in identifying the most relevant subsequences, enhancing both the precision and causal fidelity of time series explanations.
title ShapeX: Shapelet-Driven Post Hoc Explanations for Time Series Classification Models
topic Machine Learning
Artificial Intelligence
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.20084