Repository logo

Infoscience

  • English
  • French
Log In
Logo EPFL, École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne

Infoscience

  • English
  • French
Log In
  1. Home
  2. Academic and Research Output
  3. Journal articles
  4. What can be learnt with wide convolutional neural networks?
 
research article

What can be learnt with wide convolutional neural networks?

Cagnetta, Francesco  
•
Favero, Alessandro  
•
Wyart, Matthieu  
October 31, 2024
Journal of Statistical Mechanics: Theory and Experiment

Understanding how convolutional neural networks (CNNs) can efficiently learn high-dimensional functions remains a fundamental challenge. A popular belief is that these models harness the local and hierarchical structure of natural data such as images. Yet, we lack a quantitative understanding of how such structure affects performance, for example the rate of decay of the generalisation error with the number of training samples. In this paper, we study infinitely wide deep CNNs in the kernel regime. First, we show that the spectrum of the corresponding kernel inherits the hierarchical structure of the network, and we characterise its asymptotics. Then, we use this result together with generalisation bounds to prove that deep CNNs adapt to the spatial scale of the target function. In particular, we find that if the target function depends on low-dimensional subsets of adjacent input variables then the decay of the error is controlled by the effective dimensionality of these subsets. Conversely, if the target function depends on the full set of input variables then the error decay is controlled by the input dimension. We conclude by computing the generalisation error of a deep CNN trained on the output of another deep CNN with randomly initialised parameters. Interestingly, we find that, despite their hierarchical structure, the functions generated by infinitely wide deep CNNs are too rich to be efficiently learnable in high dimensions.

  • Details
  • Metrics
Type
research article
DOI
10.1088/1742-5468/ad65df
Scopus ID

2-s2.0-85207762306

Author(s)
Cagnetta, Francesco  

École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne

Favero, Alessandro  

École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne

Wyart, Matthieu  

École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne

Date Issued

2024-10-31

Published in
Journal of Statistical Mechanics: Theory and Experiment
Volume

2024

Issue

10

Article Number

104020

Subjects

CNNs

•

convolutional neural networks

•

curse of dimensionality

•

deep learning

•

generalisation

•

ICML

•

Kernel methods

•

locality

•

machine learning

•

NTK

Editorial or Peer reviewed

REVIEWED

Written at

EPFL

EPFL units
PCSL  
FunderFunding(s)Grant NumberGrant URL

Simons Foundation

454953

Available on Infoscience
January 25, 2025
Use this identifier to reference this record
https://infoscience.epfl.ch/handle/20.500.14299/244259
Logo EPFL, École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne
  • Contact
  • infoscience@epfl.ch

  • Follow us on Facebook
  • Follow us on Instagram
  • Follow us on LinkedIn
  • Follow us on X
  • Follow us on Youtube
AccessibilityLegal noticePrivacy policyCookie settingsEnd User AgreementGet helpFeedback

Infoscience is a service managed and provided by the Library and IT Services of EPFL. © EPFL, tous droits réservés