arXiv Machine Learning

Dynamical stability for dense patterns in attractor neural networks

arXiv Machine Learning
Jun 4

Drift-Diffusion Matching: Embedding dynamics in latent manifolds of asymmetric neural networks

arXiv:2602. 14885v2 Announce Type: replace-cross Abstract: Recurrent neural networks (RNNs) provide a theoretical framework for understanding computation in biological neural circuits, yet classical results, such as Hopfield's model of associative memory, rely on symmetric connectivity that restricts network dynamics to gradient-like flows.

By Ram\'on Nartallo-Kaluarachchi, Renaud Lambiotte, Alain Goriely
arXiv Machine Learning
Sep 11

Phases in a class of associative memories via hidden neurons

The paper investigates associative memory in a bipartite Hopfield–Krotov architecture, termed class H, where hidden neurons serve as the retrieval order parameter. Using the replica method, it derives replica‑symmetric phase diagrams and closed‑form capacities for polynomial load, showing that crosstalk statistics are similar for Ising and spherical visible neurons. With a softmax hidden layer, the load becomes exponential, mapping the thermodynamics onto a random‑energy‑model that exhibits paramagnetic, condensed, and frozen phases, and revealing that heating destabilizes retrieval through quantized attention reassignments while Gaussian patterns remain metastable at all loads.

By Toshihiro Ota, Masato Taki
arXiv Machine Learning
Sep 18

Learning-Induced Dynamical Transition in Recurrent Neural Networks

The paper presents a non-equilibrium dynamical mean-field theory (DMFT) that explains how learning reshapes the dynamics of recurrent neural networks, turning initially chaotic activity into stable, task-dependent behavior. It shows that a slow, feedback-driven learning process gradually increases effective feedback strength, driving the network through a bifurcation that marks the transition from chaotic to stable dynamics. By deriving the two-time correlation function, the authors identify a critical feedback strength and a learning-rate-dependent critical time that separate these regimes, and they demonstrate that the theory accurately predicts the network’s output evolution during training, matching numerical simulations.

By Varun Vaidya
arXiv Machine Learning
Aug 19

Center-Manifold Reduction of Learning at Bifurcations: Interference and Rich Learning in Recurrent Neural Networks

The paper investigates how gradient descent behaves near codimension‑one bifurcations in recurrent neural networks by analyzing the global empirical Neural Tangent Kernel (GeNTK). Under local center‑manifold conditions, the parameter‑to‑state Jacobian is approximated by a low‑rank normal‑form operator, causing the GeNTK and Fisher information matrix to become strongly amplified and anisotropic, concentrating on a rank‑one or rank‑two channel depending on the bifurcation type. Experiments on high‑dimensional RNNs confirm that this low‑rank concentration coincides with abrupt loss changes, subtask interference, and aligns with changes in memory dynamics in a 15‑task LeakyRNN.

By James Hazelden, Eric Shea-Brown