Regularizing CNNs with Locally Constrained Decorrelations
Regularization is key for deep learning since it allows training more complex models while keeping lower levels of overfitting. However, the most prevalent regularizations do not leverage all the capacity of the models since they rely on reducing the effective number of parameters. Feature decorrelation is an alternative for using the full capacity of the models but the overfitting reduction margins are too narrow given the overhead it introduces. In this paper, we show that regularizing negatively correlated features is an obstacle for effective decorrelation and present OrthoReg, a novel regularization technique that locally enforces feature orthogonality. As a result, imposing locality constraints in feature decorrelation removes interferences between negatively correlated feature weights, allowing the regularizer to reach higher decorrelation bounds, and reducing the overfitting more effectively. In particular, we show that the models regularized with OrthoReg have higher accuracy bounds even when batch normalization and dropout are present. Moreover, since our regularization is directly performed on the weights, it is especially suitable for fully convolutional neural networks, where the weight space is constant compared to the feature map space. As a result, we are able to reduce the overfitting of state-of-the-art CNNs on CIFAR-10, CIFAR-100, and SVHN.
Encouraging orthogonality in weight features has been reported useful for deep networks in many previous works. The authors present a explicit regularization cost to achieve de-correlation among weight features in a layer and encourage orthogonality. Further, they also show why and how negative correlations can and should be avoided for better de-correlation. Orthogonal weight features achieve better generalization in case of large number of trainable parameters and less training data, which usually results in over-fitting. As also mentioned by the authors biases help in de-correlation of feature responses even in the presence of correlated features (weights). Regularization techniques like OrthoReg can be more helpful in training deeper and leaner networks, where the representational capacity of each layer is low, and also generalize better. Although the improvement in performances is not significant the direction of research and the observations made are promising.
You are a member of the scientific community tasked with peer review. Review the following paper title and abstract.
### Title + Abstract
Regularizing CNNs with Locally Constrained Decorrelations
Regularization is key for deep learning since it allows training more complex models while keeping lower levels of overfitting. However, the most prevalent regularizations do not leverage all the capacity of the models since they rely on reducing the effective number of parameters. Feature decorrelation is an alternative for using the full capacity of the models but the overfitting reduction margins are too narrow given the overhead it introduces. In this paper, we show that regularizing negatively correlated features is an obstacle for effective decorrelation and present OrthoReg, a novel regularization technique that locally enforces feature orthogonality. As a result, imposing locality constraints in feature decorrelation removes interferences between negatively correlated feature weights, allowing the regularizer to reach higher decorrelation bounds, and reducing the overfitting more effectively. In particular, we show that the models regularized with OrthoReg have higher accuracy bounds even when batch normalization and dropout are present. Moreover, since our regularization is directly performed on the weights, it is especially suitable for fully convolutional neural networks, where the weight space is constant compared to the feature map space. As a result, we are able to reduce the overfitting of state-of-the-art CNNs on CIFAR-10, CIFAR-100, and SVHN.
user
<think>Okay, to do a decent peer review, I should start with summarizing what the work is about. This includes novelty, contributions, clarity, and impact. I might include suggestions to issues that I find critical to the usefulness of the work. Starting with novelty, there are different types of novelty. The first aspect of novelty is scope and scale. Is the work covering a broader perspective than previous works? The second aspect is methodology. Is the proposed methodology novel compared to previous methods? Do they provide any significant advantage over previous methodologies? The third aspect is results. Are the results different compared previous work? Does this lead to any novel theories or an extension of current theories? Next is clarity, I will be reading the work in depth and analyze if any sentences can be potentially ambiguous or misleading. If any sentences are ambiguous, I will state them and give a suggestion on how to rephrase such sentence or how to make more clear to the audience. Lastly, impact is important. I will attempt to predict how such work will impact the scientific community. This might include the applications of such work and how the work might transform the way we study a certain topic. Finally, I will might only mention issues that are critical. This is to keep the review as concise and helpful as possible.</think>



Encouraging orthogonality in weight features has been reported useful for deep networks in many previous works. The authors present a explicit regularization cost to achieve de-correlation among weight features in a layer and encourage orthogonality. Further, they also show why and how negative correlations can and should be avoided for better de-correlation. Orthogonal weight features achieve better generalization in case of large number of trainable parameters and less training data, which usually results in over-fitting. As also mentioned by the authors biases help in de-correlation of feature responses even in the presence of correlated features (weights). Regularization techniques like OrthoReg can be more helpful in training deeper and leaner networks, where the representational capacity of each layer is low, and also generalize better. Although the improvement in performances is not significant the direction of research and the observations made are promising.
assistant
Encouraging orthogonality in weight features has been reported useful for deep networks in many previous works. The authors present a explicit regularization cost to achieve de-correlation among weight features in a layer and encourage orthogonality. Further, they also show why and how negative correlations can and should be avoided for better de-correlation. Orthogonal weight features achieve better generalization in case of large number of trainable parameters and less training data, which usually results in over-fitting. As also mentioned by the authors biases help in de-correlation of feature responses even in the presence of correlated features (weights). Regularization techniques like OrthoReg can be more helpful in training deeper and leaner networks, where the representational capacity of each layer is low, and also generalize better. Although the improvement in performances is not significant the direction of research and the observations made are promising.