Learning Sparse Perceptrons

Abstract

We introduce a new algorithm designed to learn sparse perceptrons over input representations which include high-order features. Our algorithm, which is based on a hypothesis-boosting method, is able to PAC-learn a relatively natural class of target concepts. Moreover, the algorithm appears to work well in practice: on a set of three problem domains, the algorithm produces classifiers that utilize small numbers of features yet exhibit good generalization performance. Perhaps most importantly, our algorithm generates concept descriptions that are easy for humans to understand. 1 Introduction Multi-layer perceptron (MLP) learning is a powerful method for tasks such as concept classification. However, in many applications, such as those that may involve scientific discovery, it is crucial to be able to explain predictions. Multi-layer perceptrons are limited in this regard, since their representations are notoriously difficult for humans to understand. We present an approach to learning ...

Keywords

Affiliated Institutions

• University of Wisconsin–Madison US
• Duquesne University US

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