Tessellation Localized Transfer learning for nonparametric regression

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Hauptverfasser: Halconruy, Hélène, Bobbia, Benjamin, Lejamtel, Paul
Format: Preprint
Veröffentlicht: 2026
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author Halconruy, Hélène
Bobbia, Benjamin
Lejamtel, Paul
author_facet Halconruy, Hélène
Bobbia, Benjamin
Lejamtel, Paul
contents Transfer learning aims to improve performance on a target task by leveraging information from related source tasks. We propose a nonparametric regression transfer learning framework that explicitly models heterogeneity in the source-target relationship. Our approach relies on a local transfer assumption: the covariate space is partitioned into finitely many cells such that, within each cell, the target regression function can be expressed as a low-complexity transformation of the source regression function. This localized structure enables effective transfer where similarity is present while limiting negative transfer elsewhere. We introduce estimators that jointly learn the local transfer functions and the target regression, together with fully data-driven procedures that adapt to unknown partition structure and transfer strength. We establish sharp minimax rates for target regression estimation, showing that local transfer can mitigate the curse of dimensionality by exploiting reduced functional complexity. Our theoretical guarantees take the form of oracle inequalities that decompose excess risk into estimation and approximation terms, ensuring robustness to model misspecification. Numerical experiments illustrate the benefits of the proposed approach.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2601_00987
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Tessellation Localized Transfer learning for nonparametric regression
Halconruy, Hélène
Bobbia, Benjamin
Lejamtel, Paul
Statistics Theory
Applications
Machine Learning
Transfer learning aims to improve performance on a target task by leveraging information from related source tasks. We propose a nonparametric regression transfer learning framework that explicitly models heterogeneity in the source-target relationship. Our approach relies on a local transfer assumption: the covariate space is partitioned into finitely many cells such that, within each cell, the target regression function can be expressed as a low-complexity transformation of the source regression function. This localized structure enables effective transfer where similarity is present while limiting negative transfer elsewhere. We introduce estimators that jointly learn the local transfer functions and the target regression, together with fully data-driven procedures that adapt to unknown partition structure and transfer strength. We establish sharp minimax rates for target regression estimation, showing that local transfer can mitigate the curse of dimensionality by exploiting reduced functional complexity. Our theoretical guarantees take the form of oracle inequalities that decompose excess risk into estimation and approximation terms, ensuring robustness to model misspecification. Numerical experiments illustrate the benefits of the proposed approach.
title Tessellation Localized Transfer learning for nonparametric regression
topic Statistics Theory
Applications
Machine Learning
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2601.00987