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Layer-Skipping Connections Improve the Effectiveness of Equilibrium Propagation on Layered Networks

Published

Author(s)

Jimmy I. Gammell, Sae Woo Nam, Adam McCaughan

Abstract

Equilibrium propagation is a learning framework that marks a step forward in the search for a biologically-plausible implementation of deep learning, and could be implemented efficiently in neuromorphic hardware. Previous applications of this framework to layered networks encountered a vanishing gradient problem that has not yet been solved in a simple, biologically-plausible way. In this paper, we demonstrate that the vanishing gradient problem can be mitigated by replacing some of a layered network's connections with random layer-skipping connections in a manner inspired by small-world networks. This approach would be convenient to implement in neuromorphic hardware, and is biologically-plausible.
Citation
Frontiers in Neuroscience

Citation

Gammell, J. , Nam, S. and McCaughan, A. (2021), Layer-Skipping Connections Improve the Effectiveness of Equilibrium Propagation on Layered Networks, Frontiers in Neuroscience, [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=930142 (Accessed November 29, 2025)

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Created May 17, 2021, Updated September 29, 2025
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