# Learning to Combat Noisy Labels via Classification Margins

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2102.00751 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2102.00751/

## Key facts

- Cited by 4 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 35 of its 48 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 1 Feb 2021.

## Builds on (most cited first, 30 of 35)

- [Deep Residual Learning for Image Recognition](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1512.03385/) (2015)
- [Very Deep Convolutional Networks for Large-Scale Image Recognition](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1409.1556/) (2014)
- [Going Deeper with Convolutions](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1409.4842/) (2014)
- [Visualizing and Understanding Convolutional Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1311.2901/) (2013)
- [Understanding deep learning requires rethinking generalization](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1611.03530/) (2016)
- [Co-teaching: Robust Training of Deep Neural Networks with Extremely Noisy Labels](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1804.06872/) (2018)
- [Generalized Cross Entropy Loss for Training Deep Neural Networks with Noisy Labels](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1805.07836/) (2018)
- [A Closer Look at Memorization in Deep Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1706.05394/) (2017)
- [Learning to Reweight Examples for Robust Deep Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1803.09050/) (2018)
- [Making Deep Neural Networks Robust to Label Noise: a Loss Correction Approach](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1609.03683/) (2016)
- [MentorNet: Learning Data-Driven Curriculum for Very Deep Neural Networks on Corrupted Labels](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1712.05055/) (2017)
- [Symmetric Cross Entropy for Robust Learning with Noisy Labels](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1908.06112/) (2019)
- [Robust Loss Functions under Label Noise for Deep Neural Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1712.09482/) (2017)
- [Early-Learning Regularization Prevents Memorization of Noisy Labels](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2007.00151/) (2020)
- [How does Disagreement Help Generalization against Label Corruption?](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1901.04215/) (2019)
- [Unsupervised Label Noise Modeling and Loss Correction](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1904.11238/) (2019)
- [Training Deep Neural Networks on Noisy Labels with Bootstrapping](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1412.6596/) (2014)
- [WebVision Database: Visual Learning and Understanding from Web Data](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1708.02862/) (2017)
- [Identifying Mislabeled Data using the Area Under the Margin Ranking](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2001.10528/) (2020)
- [Understanding and Utilizing Deep Neural Networks Trained with Noisy Labels](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1905.05040/) (2019)
- [Dimensionality-Driven Learning with Noisy Labels](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1806.02612/) (2018)
- [Gradient Descent with Early Stopping is Provably Robust to Label Noise for Overparameterized Neural Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1903.11680/) (2019)
- [Active Bias: Training More Accurate Neural Networks by Emphasizing High Variance Samples](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1704.07433/) (2017)
- [Self-Adaptive Training: beyond Empirical Risk Minimization](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2002.10319/) (2020)
- [Curriculum Loss: Robust Learning and Generalization against Label Corruption](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1905.10045/) (2019)
- [Combating Label Noise in Deep Learning Using Abstention](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1905.10964/) (2019)
- [Robust Bi-Tempered Logistic Loss Based on Bregman Divergences](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1906.03361/) (2019)
- [Making Risk Minimization Tolerant to Label Noise](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1403.3610/) (2014)
- [How does Early Stopping Help Generalization against Label Noise?](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1911.08059/) (2019)
- [L_DMI: An Information-theoretic Noise-robust Loss Function](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1909.03388/) (2019)

## Built on by (most cited first, 4 of 4)

- [Robust Training under Label Noise by Over-parameterization](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2202.14026/) (2022)
- [Binary classification with corrupted labels](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2106.09136/) (2021)
- [Exploring the Learning Difficulty of Data Theory and Measure](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2205.07427/) (2022)
- [LIGAR: Lightweight General-purpose Action Recognition](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2108.13153/) (2021)

## Abstract (arXiv)

A deep neural network trained on noisy labels is known to quickly lose its power to discriminate clean instances from noisy ones. After the early learning phase has ended, the network memorizes the noisy instances, which leads to a significant degradation in its generalization performance. To resolve this issue, we propose MARVEL (MARgins Via Early Learning), a new robust learning method where the memorization of the noisy instances is curbed. We propose a new test statistic that tracks the goodness of "fit" of every instance based on the epoch-history of its classification margins. If its classification margin is small in a sequence of consecutive learning epochs, that instance is declared noisy and the network abandons learning on it. Consequently, the network first flags a possibly noisy instance, and then waits to see if learning on that instance can be improved and if not, the network learns with confidence that this instance can be safely abandoned. We also propose MARVEL+, where arduous instances can be upweighted, enabling the network to focus and improve its learning on them and consequently its generalization. Experimental results on benchmark datasets with synthetic label noise and real-world datasets show that MARVEL outperforms other baselines consistently across different noise levels, with a significantly larger margin under asymmetric noise.