Chain Graph Explanation of Neural Network Based on Feature-Level Class Confusion

Despite increasing interest in developing interpretable machine learning methods, most recent studies have provided explanations only for single instances, require additional datasets, and are sensitive to hyperparameters. This paper proposes a confusion graph that reveals model weaknesses by constr...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Hyekyoung Hwang, Eunbyung Park, Jitae Shin
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2022-01-01
Series:Applied Sciences
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/12/3/1523
Description
Summary:Despite increasing interest in developing interpretable machine learning methods, most recent studies have provided explanations only for single instances, require additional datasets, and are sensitive to hyperparameters. This paper proposes a confusion graph that reveals model weaknesses by constructing a confusion dictionary. Unlike other methods, which focus on the performance variation caused by single-neuron suppression, it defines the role of each neuron in two different perspectives: ‘correction’ and ‘violation’. Furthermore, our method can identify the class relationships in similar positions at the feature level, which can suggest improvements to the model. Finally, the proposed graph construction is model-agnostic and does not require additional data or tedious hyperparameter tuning. Experimental results show that the information loss from omitting the channels guided by the proposed graph can result in huge performance degradation, from 91% to 33%, while the proposed graph only retains 1% of total neurons.
ISSN:2076-3417