# Phase transitions in Restricted Boltzmann Machines with generic priors

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/1612.03132 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/1612.03132/

## Key facts

- Cited by 20 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- First posted on arXiv 9 Dec 2016.

## Built on by (most cited first, 20 of 20)

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## Abstract (arXiv)

We study Generalised Restricted Boltzmann Machines with generic priors for units and weights, interpolating between Boolean and Gaussian variables. We present a complete analysis of the replica symmetric phase diagram of these systems, which can be regarded as Generalised Hopfield models. We underline the role of the retrieval phase for both inference and learning processes and we show that retrieval is robust for a large class of weight and unit priors, beyond the standard Hopfield scenario. Furthermore we show how the paramagnetic phase boundary is directly related to the optimal size of the training set necessary for good generalisation in a teacher-student scenario of unsupervised learning.
