Enhancing Metric-Based Few-Shot Classification With Weighted Large Margin Nearest Center Loss

Metric-learning-based methods, which attempt to learn a deep embedding space on extremely large episodes, have been successfully applied to few-shot classification problems. In this paper, we propose the adoption of large margin nearest center (LMNC) loss during episodic training to enhance metric-l...

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Main Authors: Wei Bao, Meiyu Huang, Xueshuang Xiang
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: IEEE 2021-01-01
Series:IEEE Access
Subjects:
Online Access:https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9462843/
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author Wei Bao
Meiyu Huang
Xueshuang Xiang
author_facet Wei Bao
Meiyu Huang
Xueshuang Xiang
author_sort Wei Bao
collection DOAJ
description Metric-learning-based methods, which attempt to learn a deep embedding space on extremely large episodes, have been successfully applied to few-shot classification problems. In this paper, we propose the adoption of large margin nearest center (LMNC) loss during episodic training to enhance metric-learning-based few-shot classification methods. Loss functions (such as cross-entropy and mean square error) commonly used in episodic training strive to achieve the strict goal that differently labeled examples in the embedding space are separated by an infinite distance. However, the learned embedding space cannot guarantee that this goal will be achieved for every episode sampled from a large number of classes. Instead of an infinite distance, LMNC loss requires only that differently labeled examples be separated by a large margin, which can well relax the strict constraint of the traditional loss functions, easily leading to a discriminative embedding space. Moreover, considering the multilevel similarity between various classes, we alleviate the constraint of a fixed large margin and extend LMNC loss to weighted LMNC (WLMNC) loss, which can effectively take advantage of interclass information, achieving a more separable embedding space with adaptive interclass margins. Experiments on state-of-the-art benchmarks demonstrate that the adoption of LMNC and WLMNC losses can strongly improve the embedding learning performance and classification accuracy of metric-based few-shot classification methods for various few-shot scenarios. In particular, LMNC and WLMNC losses can obtain 1.86&#x0025; and 2.46&#x0025; gains in prototypical network on <italic>mini</italic>ImageNet for 5-way 1-shot scenario, respectively.
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spelling doaj.art-cdf6d04276d14d588215b9a197a9f1712022-12-21T18:24:44ZengIEEEIEEE Access2169-35362021-01-019908059081510.1109/ACCESS.2021.30917049462843Enhancing Metric-Based Few-Shot Classification With Weighted Large Margin Nearest Center LossWei Bao0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2578-1574Meiyu Huang1https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7513-1764Xueshuang Xiang2https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7794-4876Qian Xuesen Laboratory of Space Technology, China Academy of Space Technology, Beijing, ChinaQian Xuesen Laboratory of Space Technology, China Academy of Space Technology, Beijing, ChinaQian Xuesen Laboratory of Space Technology, China Academy of Space Technology, Beijing, ChinaMetric-learning-based methods, which attempt to learn a deep embedding space on extremely large episodes, have been successfully applied to few-shot classification problems. In this paper, we propose the adoption of large margin nearest center (LMNC) loss during episodic training to enhance metric-learning-based few-shot classification methods. Loss functions (such as cross-entropy and mean square error) commonly used in episodic training strive to achieve the strict goal that differently labeled examples in the embedding space are separated by an infinite distance. However, the learned embedding space cannot guarantee that this goal will be achieved for every episode sampled from a large number of classes. Instead of an infinite distance, LMNC loss requires only that differently labeled examples be separated by a large margin, which can well relax the strict constraint of the traditional loss functions, easily leading to a discriminative embedding space. Moreover, considering the multilevel similarity between various classes, we alleviate the constraint of a fixed large margin and extend LMNC loss to weighted LMNC (WLMNC) loss, which can effectively take advantage of interclass information, achieving a more separable embedding space with adaptive interclass margins. Experiments on state-of-the-art benchmarks demonstrate that the adoption of LMNC and WLMNC losses can strongly improve the embedding learning performance and classification accuracy of metric-based few-shot classification methods for various few-shot scenarios. In particular, LMNC and WLMNC losses can obtain 1.86&#x0025; and 2.46&#x0025; gains in prototypical network on <italic>mini</italic>ImageNet for 5-way 1-shot scenario, respectively.https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9462843/Few-shot classificationmetric learninglarge margin nearest center lossweighted large margin nearest center loss
spellingShingle Wei Bao
Meiyu Huang
Xueshuang Xiang
Enhancing Metric-Based Few-Shot Classification With Weighted Large Margin Nearest Center Loss
IEEE Access
Few-shot classification
metric learning
large margin nearest center loss
weighted large margin nearest center loss
title Enhancing Metric-Based Few-Shot Classification With Weighted Large Margin Nearest Center Loss
title_full Enhancing Metric-Based Few-Shot Classification With Weighted Large Margin Nearest Center Loss
title_fullStr Enhancing Metric-Based Few-Shot Classification With Weighted Large Margin Nearest Center Loss
title_full_unstemmed Enhancing Metric-Based Few-Shot Classification With Weighted Large Margin Nearest Center Loss
title_short Enhancing Metric-Based Few-Shot Classification With Weighted Large Margin Nearest Center Loss
title_sort enhancing metric based few shot classification with weighted large margin nearest center loss
topic Few-shot classification
metric learning
large margin nearest center loss
weighted large margin nearest center loss
url https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9462843/
work_keys_str_mv AT weibao enhancingmetricbasedfewshotclassificationwithweightedlargemarginnearestcenterloss
AT meiyuhuang enhancingmetricbasedfewshotclassificationwithweightedlargemarginnearestcenterloss
AT xueshuangxiang enhancingmetricbasedfewshotclassificationwithweightedlargemarginnearestcenterloss