PlainMamba: Improving Non-Hierarchical Mamba in Visual Recognition
On the map: State-space sequence models (S4, Mamba) → Vision Mamba backbones
Abstract (arXiv)
We present PlainMamba: a simple non-hierarchical state space model (SSM) designed for general visual recognition. The recent Mamba model has shown how SSMs can be highly competitive with other architectures on sequential data and initial attempts have been made to apply it to images. In this paper, we further adapt the selective scanning process of Mamba to the visual domain, enhancing its ability to learn features from two-dimensional images by (i) a continuous 2D scanning process that improves spatial continuity by ensuring adjacency of tokens in the scanning sequence, and (ii) direction-aware updating which enables the model to discern the spatial relations of tokens by encoding directional information. Our architecture is designed to be easy to use and easy to scale, formed by stacking identical PlainMamba blocks, resulting in a model with constant width throughout all layers. The architecture is further simplified by removing the need for special tokens. We evaluate PlainMamba on a variety of visual recognition tasks, achieving performance gains over previous non-hierarchical models and is competitive with hierarchical alternatives. For tasks requiring high-resolution inputs, in particular, PlainMamba requires much less computing while maintaining high performance. Code and models are available at: https://github.com/ChenhongyiYang/PlainMamba .
Key facts. Cited by 141 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026). Placed in Vision Mamba backbones, one of 10 directions in State-space sequence models (S4, Mamba). Builds on 95 of its 107 references that are in the map. First posted on arXiv 26 Mar 2024.
Builds on
95 of 107 references.
Closest ancestors · 4
Same direction, newest first
- 2024EfficientVMamba: Atrous Selective Scan for Light Weight Visual Mamba15 Mar
- 2024LocalMamba: Visual State Space Model with Windowed Selective Scan14 Mar
- 2024Pan-Mamba: Effective pan-sharpening with State Space Model19 Feb
- 2024Vision Mamba: Efficient Visual Representation Learning with Bidirectional State Space Model17 Jan
Other references · 91
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Citing papers per year: 2024: 56; 2025: 55; 2026: 30.
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- 2026Norm or Direction? Decoding Vision Mambas for High-Resolution Vision21 Jul 2026
- 2026Vision Non-Causal Trapezoidal Mamba: Eliminating Directional Scanning in Vision SSMs with Second-Order Dynamics3 Jul 2026
- 2026MambaADv2: Evolving Duality-enhanced State Space Model for Unsupervised Anomaly Detection22 Jun 2026
- 2026Can Graphs Help Vision SSMs See Better?11 May 2026
- 2026Beyond ZOH: Advanced Discretization Strategies for Vision Mamba22 Apr 2026
- 2026DGSSM: Diffusion guided state-space models for multimodal salient object detection19 Apr 2026
- 2026MFil-Mamba: Multi-Filter Scanning for Spatial Redundancy-Aware Visual State Space Models20 Mar 2026
- 2026Samba+: General and Accurate Salient Object Detection via A More Unified Mamba-based Framework2 Feb 2026
- 2026NeuroMamba: Multi-Perspective Feature Interaction with Visual Mamba for Neuron Segmentation22 Jan 2026
- 2025DF-Mamba: Deformable State Space Modeling for 3D Hand Pose Estimation in Interactions2 Dec 2025
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- 2026Riemannian--Lorentz Fusion of Vision Transformers and State-Space Models16 Sep 2026
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- 2026Compass: Degradation-Simulated Reciprocal Learning with Lightweight Needle RWKV for Multimodal Crack Segmentation under Missing Modalities4 Aug 2026
- 2026Liquid Fusion of Heterogeneous Representations Towards General Salient Object Detection25 Jun 2026
- 2026Physics-Guided Spatiotemporal State Space Modeling for Lookahead Molten Pool Segmentation in Laser Wire-Feed Welding22 Jun 2026
- 2026Deformba: Vision State Space Model with Adaptive State Fusion20 May 2026
- 2026SCRWKV: Ultra-Compact Structure-Calibrated Vision-RWKV for Topological Crack Segmentation14 May 2026
- 2026TCP-SSM: Efficient Vision State Space Models with Token-Conditioned Poles12 May 2026
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