Credit Assignment in Neural Networks through Deep Feedback Control


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Date

2021

Publication Type

Conference Paper

ETH Bibliography

yes

Citations

Altmetric

Data

Abstract

The success of deep learning sparked interest in whether the brain learns by using similar techniques for assigning credit to each synaptic weight for its contribution to the network output. However, the majority of current attempts at biologicallyplausible learning methods are either non-local in time, require highly specific connectivity motifs, or have no clear link to any known mathematical optimization method. Here, we introduce Deep Feedback Control (DFC), a new learning method that uses a feedback controller to drive a deep neural network to match a desired output target and whose control signal can be used for credit assignment. The resulting learning rule is fully local in space and time and approximates GaussNewton optimization for a wide range of feedback connectivity patterns. To further underline its biological plausibility, we relate DFC to a multi-compartment model of cortical pyramidal neurons with a local voltage-dependent synaptic plasticity rule, consistent with recent theories of dendritic processing. By combining dynamical system theory with mathematical optimization theory, we provide a strong theoretical foundation for DFC that we corroborate with detailed results on toy experiments and standard computer-vision benchmarks.

Publication status

published

Book title

Advances in Neural Information Processing Systems 34

Journal / series

Volume

Pages / Article No.

4674 - 4687

Publisher

Curran

Event

35th Annual Conference on Neural Information Processing Systems (NeurIPS 2021)

Edition / version

Methods

Software

Geographic location

Date collected

Date created

Subject

Organisational unit

09479 - Grewe, Benjamin / Grewe, Benjamin check_circle

Notes

Funding

173721 - Temporal Information Integration in Neural Networks (SNF)
189251 - Ultra compact miniaturized microscopes to image meso-scale brain activity (SNF)
186027 - Probabilistic learning in deep cortical networks (SNF)

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