Probabilistic modeling the hidden layers of deep neural networks

Xinjie Lan, Kenneth E. Barner

TL;DR: The Gaussian Process cannot correctly explain all the hidden layers of neural networks. Alternatively, we propose a novel probabilistic representation for deep learning

Abstract: In this paper, we demonstrate that the parameters of Deep Neural Networks (DNNs) cannot satisfy the i.i.d. prior assumption and activations being i.i.d. is not valid for all the hidden layers of DNNs. Hence, the Gaussian Process cannot correctly explain all the hidden layers of DNNs. Alternatively, we introduce a novel probabilistic representation for the hidden layers of DNNs in two aspects: (i) a hidden layer formulates a Gibbs distribution, in which neurons define the energy function, and (ii) the connection between two adjacent layers can be modeled by a product of experts model. Based on the probabilistic representation, we demonstrate that the entire architecture of DNNs can be explained as a Bayesian hierarchical model. Moreover, the proposed probabilistic representation indicates that DNNs have explicit regularizations defined by the hidden layers serving as prior distributions. Based on the Bayesian explanation for the regularization of DNNs, we propose a novel regularization approach to improve the generalization performance of DNNs. Simulation results validate the proposed theories.

Keywords: Neural Networks, Gaussian Process, Probabilistic Representation for Deep Learning