04/22/23
Statistical Learning Theory
04/22/23
Statistical Learning Theory
A model of supervised learning consists of:a) Environment- Supplying a vector with a fixed but unknown pdfb) Teacher. It provides a desired response d for every according to a conditional pdf
. These are related by
x)(xFx
x
)( dxFx ),( vxfd
04/22/23
Statistical Learning Theory
v is a noise term.c) Learning machine. It is capable of imple-
menting a set of I/O mapping functions:
where y is the actual response and is a set of free parameters (weights) selected from the parameter (weight) space .
),( wxFy w
W
04/22/23
Statistical Learning Theory
The supervised learning problem is that of selecting the particular that approximates d in an optimum fashion. The selection itself is based on a set of iid training samples:
Each sample is drawn from with a joint pdf
),( wxF
Niii dxT 1)},{(ˆ
),(, dxF dx
T
04/22/23
Statistical Learning Theory
Supervised learning depends on the following:“Do the training examples contain enough information to construct a LM capable of good generalization?”
To answer, we will see this problem as an approximation problem. We wish to find the function which is the best possible approximation to .
)},{( ii dx
),( wxF )(xf
04/22/23
Statistical Learning Theory
Let denote a measure of the discrepancy between a d corresponding to a vector and the actual response produced by
The expected value of the loss is defined by the risk functional
),( wxF x
2)),(()),(,( wxFdwxFdL
),()),(,()( , dxdFwxFdLwR Dx
04/22/23
Statistical Learning Theory
The risk functional may be easily understood from the finite approximation
where denotes the probability of drawing the i-th sample.
i
iiii dxPdxLwR ),(),()(
),( ii dxP
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Principle of Empirical Risk Minimization
Instead of using we use an empirical measure:
This measure differs from in two desirable ways:
a) It does not depend on the unknown pdf explicitly.
)(wR
)),(,(1)( i
iiE wxFdLN
wR
)(wR
),(, dxF Dx
04/22/23
Principle of Empirical Risk Minimization
b) In theory it can be minimized with respect to .-------Let and denote the weight vector and
the mapping that minimizeAlso, let and denote the ana-logues forBoth and correspond to the space .
w
Ew ),( EwxF
)(wRE
0w ),( 0wxF
)(wR
Ew 0w W
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Principle of Empirical Risk Minimization
We must now consider under which condi-tions is close to as measured by the mismatch between
and .
),( EwxF
)(wRE
),( 0wxF
)(wR
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Principle of Empirical Risk Minimization
1. In place of , construct
on the basis of the training set of iid samples i = 1, ..., N
)(wR
)),(,(1)( i
iiE wxFdLN
wR
),( ii dx
04/22/23
Principle of Empirical Risk Minimization
2. converges in probability to the mi-nimum possible values of as provided that converges uniformly to .
3. Uniform convergence as per
is necessary and sufficient for consistency of the PERM.
)(wRE
)(wR
)( EwR
)(wR N
0))()(sup(
wRwRP EWw
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The Vapnik Chervonenkis Dimension
The theory of uniform convergence of to includes rates of convergence based
on a parameter called the VC dimension.It is a measure of the capacity or expressive
power of the family of classification functions realized by the learning machine.
)(wRE
)(wR
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The Vapnik Chervonenkis Dimension
To describe the concept of VC dimension let us consider a binary pattern classification problem for which the desired response is
.A dichotomy is a classification function. Let
denote the set of dichotomies implemented by a learning machine:
}1,0{dF
}}1,0{ˆ:,ˆ:),({ˆ WRFWwwxFF m
04/22/23
The Vapnik Chervonenkis Dimension
Let denote the set of N points in the m-dimensional space of input vectors:
A dichotomy partitions into two disjoint sets and such that
LX
},...,1;ˆ{ˆ NiXxL i
L0L 1L
1
0ˆ1
ˆ0),(
LxforLxfor
wxF
04/22/23
The Vapnik Chervonenkis Dimension
Let denote the number of distinct dichotomies implemented by the L.M.
Let denote the maximum over all with .
is shattered by if . That is, if all the possible dichotomies of can be induced by functions in .
)ˆ(ˆ LF
)(ˆ lF )ˆ(ˆ LFL lL ˆ
L F LF L
ˆˆ 2)ˆ(
FL
04/22/23
The Vapnik Chervonenkis Dimension
In the figure we illus-trate a two-dimensionalspace consisting of 4points (x1,...,x4). The
decision boundaries ofF0 and F1 correspond
to the classes 0 and 1being true. F0 induces
the dichotomy:
04/22/23
The Vapnik Chervonenkis Dimension
While F1 induces
with the set consisting of fourpoints, the cardinalityHence,
]}[ˆ],,,[ˆ{ˆ 3142100 xLxxxLD
]},[ˆ],,[ˆ{ˆ 4312101 xxLxxLD
L
4ˆ L
162)ˆ( 4ˆ LF
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The Vapnik Chervonenkis Dimension
We now formally define the VC dimension as:
“The VC dimension of an ensemble of dichotomies is the cardinality of the largest set that is shattered by .”
FL F
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The Vapnik Chervonenkis Dimension
In more familiar terms, the VC dimension of the set of classification functions
is the maximum number of training examples that can be learned by the machine without error for all possible labelings of the classification functions.
}ˆ:),({ WwwxF
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Importance of the VC Dimension
Roughly speaking, the number of examples needed to learn a class of interest reliably is proportional to the VC dimension.
In some cases the VC dimension is determined by the free parameters of a Neural Network.
In this regard, the following two results are of interest.
04/22/23
Importance of the VC Dimension
1. Let denote an arbitrary feedforward network built up from neurons with a threshold activation function:
the VC dimension of is O(W logW) where W is the total number of free parameters in the network.
N
0001
)(vforvfor
v
N
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Importance of the VC Dimension
2. Let denote a multilayer feedforward network whose neurons use a sigmoid activation function
the VC dimension is O(W2), where W is the number of free parameters in the network.
N
vev
1
1)(
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Importance of the VC DimensionIn the case of binary pattern classification the
loss function has only two possible values:
The risk functional R( ) and the empirical risk functional Remp( ) assume the following interpretations:
otherwise
dwxFifwxFdL
1),(0
),(,(
w
w
04/22/23
Importance of the VC DimensionR( ) is the probability of classification error
denoted by P( ).Remp( ) is the training error, denoted by
v( ).
Then (Haykin, p.98):
w
w
w
w
NaswvwPP 0))()((sup
04/22/23
Importance of the VC DimensionThe notion of VC provides a bound on the rate of
uniform convergence. For the set of classification functions with VC dimension h the following inequality holds:
(vc.1)
where N is the size of the training sample. In other words, a finite VC dimension is a necessary and sufficient condition for uniform convergence of the principle of empirical risk minimization.
)exp(2))()((sup 2 NheNwvwPP
h
04/22/23
Importance of the VC dimensionThe factor in (vc.1) represents a
bound on the growth function for the family of functions
for Provided that this function does not grow too fast, the right hand side will go to zero as N goes to infinity.
This requirement is satisfied if the VC dimension is finite.
hheN /2)(ˆ lF
}ˆ);,({ˆ WwwxFF
1hl
04/22/23
Importance of the VC DimensionThus, a finite VC dimension is a necessary and
sufficient condition for uniform convergence of the principle of empirical risk minimization.
Let denote the probability of occurrence of the event
using the previous bound (vc.1) we find
(vc.2)
)()(sup wvwP
)exp(2 2 NheN h
04/22/23
Importance of the VC Dimension
Let denote the special value of that satisfies (vc.2). Then we obtain (Haykin, 99):
We refer to as the confidence interval.
),,(0 hN
log112log),,(0 NhN
NhhN
0
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Importance of the VC Dimension
We may also write
where
),,,()()( 1 vhNwvwP
),,()(11),,(2),,,( 2
000
hN
wvhNvhN
04/22/23
Importance of the VC DimensionConclusions:1. 2. For a small training error (close to zero):
3. For a large training error (close to unity):
),,,()()( 1 vhNwvwP
),,(4)()( 0 hNwvwP
),,()()( 0 hNwvwP
04/22/23
Structural Risk MinimizationThe training error is the frequency of errors
made during the training session for some machine with weight vector during the training session.
The generalization error is the frequency of errors made by the machine when it is tested with examples not seen before.
Let this two errors to be denoted with and .
w
)(wvtrain )(wvgene
04/22/23
Structural Risk MinimizationLet h be the VC dimension of a family of
classification functions with respect to the input space The generalization error is lower
than the guaranteed risk defined by the sum of competing terms
where the confidence intervalis defined as before.
WwwxF ˆ);,(
X)(wvgene
),,,()()( 1 traintrainguarant vhNwvwv
),,,(1 trainvhN
04/22/23
Structural Risk Minimization
For a fixed number of training samples N, the training error decreases monotonically as the capacity or h is increased, whereas the confidence interval increases monotonically.
),,()(11),,(2),,,( 2
001
hN
wvhNvhN train
04/22/23
Structural Risk MinimizationThe training error is the frequency of errors
made during the training session for some machine with weight vector during the training session.
The generalization error is the frequency of errors made by the machine when it is tested with examples not seen before.
Let this two errors to be denoted with and .
w
)(wvtrain )(wvgene
04/22/23
Structural Risk MinimizationThe training error is the frequency of errors
made during the training session for some machine with weight vector during the training session.
The generalization error is the frequency of errors made by the machine when it is tested with examples not seen before.
Let this two errors to be denoted with and .
w
)(wvtrain )(wvgene
04/22/23
Structural Risk Minimization The challenge in solving a supervised learning
problem lies in realizing the best generalization performance by matching the machine capacity to the available amount of training data for the problem at hand. The method of structural risk minimization provides an inductive procedure to achieve this goal by making the VC dimension of the learning machine a control variable.
04/22/23
Structural Risk Minimization Consider an ensemble of pattern classifiers
and define a nested structure of n such machines
such that we have
correspondingly, the VC dimensions of the indivi-dual pattern classifiers satisfy
which implies that the VC dimension of each classifier is finite (see next figure)
}ˆ:),({ WwwxF
nkWwwxFF kk ,...,1}ˆ);,({ˆ
nFFF ˆ...ˆˆ 21
nhhh ...21
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Illustration of relationship between training error, confidence interval and guaranteed risk
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Structural Risk Minimization Then:a) The empirical risk (training error) of each
classifier is minimizedb) The pattern classifier with the smallest
guaranteed risk is identified; this particular machine provides the best compromise between the training error (quality of approximation) and the confidence interval (complexity of the approximation function).
*F
04/22/23
Structural Risk Minimization Our goal is to find a network structure such that
decreasing the VC dimension occurs at the expense of the smallest possible increase in trainig error.
We achieve this, for example, varying h by varying the number of hidden neurons.
We evaluate the ensemble of fully connected multilayer feedforward networks in which the number of neurons in one of the hidden layers is increased in a monotonic fashion.
04/22/23
Structural Risk Minimization
The principle of SRM states that the best network in this ensemble is the one for
which the guaranteed risk is the minimum.