Visible to the public Optimality of inference in hierarchical coding for distributed object-based representations

TitleOptimality of inference in hierarchical coding for distributed object-based representations
Publication TypeConference Paper
Year of Publication2017
AuthorsBrodeur, S., Rouat, J.
Conference Name2017 15th Canadian Workshop on Information Theory (CWIT)
Keywordscomplex synthetic datasets, compositionality, convolution, Convolutional codes, convolutional matching pursuit, data compression, Dictionaries, distributed object-based representations, distributed processing, encoding, greedy algorithms, greedy inference algorithm, hierarchical sparse coding, hierarchical systems, inference mechanisms, L0-norm constraint, learning (artificial intelligence), Matching pursuit algorithms, multiscale representation, near-optimal codes, NP-hard optimization, optimisation, pubcrawl, representation learning, Standards
Abstract

Hierarchical approaches for representation learning have the ability to encode relevant features at multiple scales or levels of abstraction. However, most hierarchical approaches exploit only the last level in the hierarchy, or provide a multiscale representation that holds a significant amount of redundancy. We argue that removing redundancy across the multiple levels of abstraction is important for an efficient representation of compositionality in object-based representations. With the perspective of feature learning as a data compression operation, we propose a new greedy inference algorithm for hierarchical sparse coding. Convolutional matching pursuit with a L0-norm constraint was used to encode the input signal into compact and non-redundant codes distributed across levels of the hierarchy. Simple and complex synthetic datasets of temporal signals were created to evaluate the encoding efficiency and compare with the theoretical lower bounds on the information rate for those signals. Empirical evidence have shown that the algorithm is able to infer near-optimal codes for simple signals. However, it failed for complex signals with strong overlapping between objects. We explain the inefficiency of convolutional matching pursuit that occurred in such case. This brings new insights about the NP-hard optimization problem related to using L0-norm constraint in inferring optimally compact and distributed object-based representations.

URLhttp://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/7994828/
DOI10.1109/CWIT.2017.7994828
Citation Keybrodeur_optimality_2017