Predicting the generalization gap in neural networks using topological data analysis
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Abstract (arXiv)
Understanding how neural networks generalize on unseen data is crucial for designing more robust and reliable models. In this paper, we study the generalization gap of neural networks using methods from topological data analysis. For this purpose, we compute homological persistence diagrams of weighted graphs constructed from neuron activation correlations after a training phase, aiming to capture patterns that are linked to the generalization capacity of the network. We compare the usefulness of different numerical summaries from persistence diagrams and show that a combination of some of them can accurately predict and partially explain the generalization gap without the need of a test set. Evaluation on two computer vision recognition tasks (CIFAR10 and SVHN) shows competitive generalization gap prediction when compared against state-of-the-art methods.
Key facts. Cited by 9 papers in the map (data through 7 Oct 2026). Builds on 39 of its 77 references that are in the map. First posted on arXiv 23 Mar 2022.
Builds on
39 of 77 references.
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27 more
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Citing papers per year: 2023: 2; 2024: 0; 2025: 3; 2026: 4.
9 papers.
- 2023Topological Data Analysis for Neural Network Analysis: A Comprehensive Surveycited by 9
- 2023Importance attribution in neural networks by means of persistence landscapes of time seriescited by 1
- 2025One Period to Rule Them All: Identifying Critical Learning Periods in Deep Networkscited by 1
- 2025HOLE: Homological Observation of Latent Embeddings for Neural Network Interpretabilitycited by 1
- 2026TopoGeoScore: A Self-Supervised Source-Only Geometric Framework for OOD Checkpoint Selectioncited by 1
- 2026Deciphering Two Training Clocks in Grokking via Deep Linear Network Theory with Conditional ReLU Reductioncited by 1
- 2025Is Supervised Learning Really That Different from Unsupervised?cited by 0
- 2026Upper Bounds on the Generalization Error of Deep Learning Models via Local Robustness and Stabilitycited by 0
- 2026BettiSplit: Topology-Guided Privacy-Aware Split Learning Against Feature Inversion and Gradient Leakagecited by 0
- 2026BettiSplit: Topology-Guided Privacy-Aware Split Learning Against Feature Inversion and Gradient Leakage27 Jul 2026
- 2026Upper Bounds on the Generalization Error of Deep Learning Models via Local Robustness and Stability15 Jun 2026
- 2026Deciphering Two Training Clocks in Grokking via Deep Linear Network Theory with Conditional ReLU Reduction4 Jun 2026
- 2026TopoGeoScore: A Self-Supervised Source-Only Geometric Framework for OOD Checkpoint Selection9 May 2026
- 2025HOLE: Homological Observation of Latent Embeddings for Neural Network Interpretability8 Dec 2025
- 2025One Period to Rule Them All: Identifying Critical Learning Periods in Deep Networks19 Jun 2025
- 2025Is Supervised Learning Really That Different from Unsupervised?16 May 2025
- 2023Topological Data Analysis for Neural Network Analysis: A Comprehensive Survey10 Dec 2023
- 2023Importance attribution in neural networks by means of persistence landscapes of time series6 Feb 2023