GAM: Explainable Visual Similarity and Classification via Gradient Activation Maps
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Abstract (arXiv)
We present Gradient Activation Maps (GAM) - a machinery for explaining predictions made by visual similarity and classification models. By gleaning localized gradient and activation information from multiple network layers, GAM offers improved visual explanations, when compared to existing alternatives. The algorithmic advantages of GAM are explained in detail, and validated empirically, where it is shown that GAM outperforms its alternatives across various tasks and datasets.
Key facts. Cited by 8 papers in the map (data through 7 Oct 2026). Builds on 24 of its 38 references that are in the map. First posted on arXiv 2 Sep 2021.
Builds on
24 of 38 references.
References · 24
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12 more
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Built on by
Citing papers per year: 2022: 2; 2023: 3; 2024: 0; 2025: 2; 2026: 1.
8 papers.
- 2022Grad-SAM: Explaining Transformers via Gradient Self-Attention Mapscited by 42
- 2023Visual Explanations via Iterated Integrated Attributionscited by 18
- 2023Deep Integrated Explanationscited by 9
- 2022Interpreting BERT-based Text Similarity via Activation and Saliency Mapscited by 8
- 2023Learning to Explain: A Model-Agnostic Framework for Explaining Black Box Modelscited by 3
- 2025Rethinking Saliency Maps: A Cognitive Human Aligned Taxonomy and Evaluation Framework for Explanationscited by 2
- 2026Concept-Guided Fine-Tuning: Steering ViTs away from Spurious Correlations to Improve Robustnesscited by 2
- 2025Do Protein Transformers Have Biological Intelligence?cited by 0
- 2026Concept-Guided Fine-Tuning: Steering ViTs away from Spurious Correlations to Improve Robustness9 Mar 2026
- 2025Rethinking Saliency Maps: A Cognitive Human Aligned Taxonomy and Evaluation Framework for Explanations17 Nov 2025
- 2025Do Protein Transformers Have Biological Intelligence?7 Jun 2025
- 2023Visual Explanations via Iterated Integrated Attributions28 Oct 2023
- 2023Learning to Explain: A Model-Agnostic Framework for Explaining Black Box Models25 Oct 2023
- 2023Deep Integrated Explanations23 Oct 2023
- 2022Interpreting BERT-based Text Similarity via Activation and Saliency Maps13 Aug 2022
- 2022Grad-SAM: Explaining Transformers via Gradient Self-Attention Maps23 Apr 2022