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Empirical Inference Book Learning with Kernels: Support Vector Machines, Regularization, Optimization, and Beyond Schölkopf, B., Smola, A. 644, Adaptive Computation and Machine Learning, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, USA, December 2002, Parts of this book, including an introduction to kernel methods, can be downloaded here.
In the 1990s, a new type of learning algorithm was developed, based on results from statistical learning theory: the Support Vector Machine (SVM). This gave rise to a new class of theoretically elegant learning machines that use a central concept of SVMs-kernels—for a number of learning tasks. Kernel machines provide a modular framework that can be adapted to different tasks and domains by the choice of the kernel function and the base algorithm. They are replacing neural networks in a variety of fields, including engineering, information retrieval, and bioinformatics. Learning with Kernels provides an introduction to SVMs and related kernel methods. Although the book begins with the basics, it also includes the latest research. It provides all of the concepts necessary to enable a reader equipped with some basic mathematical knowledge to enter the world of machine learning using theoretically well-founded yet easy-to-use kernel algorithms and to understand and apply the powerful algorithms that have been developed over the last few years.
Web DOI BibTeX
Empirical Inference Conference Paper Gender Classification of Human Faces Graf, A., Wichmann, F. In Biologically Motivated Computer Vision 2002, Biologically Motivated Computer Vision, 1-18, (Editors: Bülthoff, H. H., S.W. Lee, T. A. Poggio and C. Wallraven), Springer, Berlin, Germany, Second International Workshop on Biologically Motivated Computer Vision (BMCV 2002), November 2002
This paper addresses the issue of combining pre-processing methods—dimensionality reduction using Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Locally Linear Embedding (LLE)—with Support Vector Machine (SVM) classification for a behaviorally important task in humans: gender classification. A processed version of the MPI head database is used as stimulus set. First, summary statistics of the head database are studied. Subsequently the optimal parameters for LLE and the SVM are sought heuristically. These values are then used to compare the original face database with its processed counterpart and to assess the behavior of a SVM with respect to changes in illumination and perspective of the face images. Overall, PCA was superior in classification performance and allowed linear separability.
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Empirical Inference Conference Paper Insect-Inspired Estimation of Self-Motion Franz, M., Chahl, J. In Proc. 2nd Workshop on Biologically Motivated Computer Vision 2002, BMCV 2002, Biologically Motivated Computer Vision, (2525)171-180, LNCS, (Editors: Bülthoff, H.H. , S.W. Lee, T.A. Poggio, C. Wallraven), Springer, Berlin, Germany, Second International Workshop on Biologically Motivated Computer Vision (BMCV 2002), November 2002
The tangential neurons in the fly brain are sensitive to the typical optic flow patterns generated during self-motion. In this study, we examine whether a simplified linear model of these neurons can be used to estimate self-motion from the optic flow. We present a theory for the construction of an optimal linear estimator incorporating prior knowledge about the environment. The optimal estimator is tested on a gantry carrying an omnidirectional vision sensor. The experiments show that the proposed approach leads to accurate and robust estimates of rotation rates, whereas translation estimates turn out to be less reliable.
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Empirical Inference Poster Modelling Contrast Transfer in Spatial Vision Wichmann, F. Journal of Vision, 2(10):7, Second Annual Meeting of the Vision Sciences Society (VSS 2002), November 2002
Much of our information about spatial vision comes from detection experiments involving low-contrast stimuli. Contrast discrimination experiments provide one way to explore the visual system's response to stimuli of higher contrast, the results of which allow different models of contrast processing (e.g. energy versus gain-control models) to be critically assessed (Wichmann & Henning, 1999). Studies of detection and discrimination using pulse train stimuli in noise, on the other hand, make predictions about the number, position and properties of noise sources within the processing stream (Henning, Bird & Wichmann, 2002). Here I report modelling results combining data from both sinusoidal and pulse train experiments in and without noise to arrive at a more tightly constrained model of early spatial vision.
Web DOI BibTeX
Empirical Inference Poster Pulse train detection and discrimination in pink noise Henning, G., Wichmann, F., Bird, C. Journal of Vision, 2(7):229, Second Annual Meeting of the Vision Sciences Society (VSS 2002), November 2002
Much of our information about spatial vision comes from detection experiments involving low-contrast stimuli. Contrast discrimination experiments provide one way to explore the visual system's response to stimuli of higher contrast. We explored both detection and contrast discrimination performance with sinusoidal and "pulse-train" (or line) gratings. Both types of grating had a fundamental spatial frequency of 2.09-c/deg but the pulse-train, ideally, contains, in addition to its fundamental component, all the harmonics of the fundamental. Although the 2.09-c/deg pulse-train produced on the display was measured and shown to contain at least 8 harmonics at equal contrast, it was no more detectable than its most detectable component; no benefit from having additional information at the harmonics was measurable. The addition of broadband "pink" noise, designed to equalize the detectability of the components of the pulse train, made it about a factor of four more detectable than any of its components. However, in contrast-discrimination experiments, with an in-phase pedestal or masking grating of the same form and phase as the signal and 15% contrast, the noise did not improve the discrimination performance of the pulse train relative to that of its sinusoidal components. In contrast, a 2.09-c/deg "super train," constructed to have 8 equally detectable harmonics, was a factor of five more detectable than any of its components. We discuss the implications of these observations for models of early vision in particular the implications for possible sources of internal noise.
Web DOI BibTeX
Empirical Inference Poster Surface-slant-from-texture discrimination: Effects of slant level and texture type Rosas, P., Wichmann, F., Wagemans, J. Journal of Vision, 2(7):300, Second Annual Meeting of the Vision Sciences Society (VSS 2002), November 2002
The problem of surface-slant-from-texture was studied psychophysically by measuring the performances of five human subjects in a slant-discrimination task with a number of different types of textures: uniform lattices, randomly displaced lattices, polka dots, Voronoi tessellations, orthogonal sinusoidal plaid patterns, fractal or 1/f noise, “coherent” noise and a “diffusion-based” texture (leopard skin-like). The results show: (1) Improving performance with larger slants for all textures. (2) A “non-symmetrical” performance around a particular slant characterized by a psychometric function that is steeper in the direction of the more slanted orientation. (3) For sufficiently large slants (66 deg) there are no major differences in performance between any of the different textures. (4) For slants at 26, 37 and 53 degrees, however, there are marked differences between the different textures. (5) The observed differences in performance across textures for slants up to 53 degrees are systematic within subjects, and nearly so across them. This allows a rank-order of textures to be formed according to their “helpfulness” — that is, how easy the discrimination task is when a particular texture is mapped on the surface. Polka dots tended to allow the best slant discrimination performance, noise patterns the worst up to the large slant of 66 degrees at which performance was almost independent of the particular texture chosen. Finally, our large number of 2AFC trials (approximately 2800 trials per texture across subjects) and associated tight confidence intervals may enable us to find out about which statistical properties of the textures could be responsible for surface-slant-from-texture estimation, with the ultimate goal of being able to predict observer performance for any arbitrary texture.
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Empirical Inference Conference Paper Combining sensory Information to Improve Visualization Ernst, M., Banks, M., Wichmann, F., Maloney, L., Bülthoff, H. In Proceedings of the Conference on Visualization ‘02 (VIS ‘02), 571-574, (Editors: Moorhead, R. , M. Joy), IEEE, Piscataway, NJ, USA, IEEE Conference on Visualization 2002 (VIS '02), October 2002
Seemingly effortlessly the human brain reconstructs the three-dimensional environment surrounding us from the light pattern striking the eyes. This seems to be true across almost all viewing and lighting conditions. One important factor for this apparent easiness is the redundancy of information provided by the sensory organs. For example, perspective distortions, shading, motion parallax, or the disparity between the two eyes' images are all, at least partly, redundant signals which provide us with information about the three-dimensional layout of the visual scene. Our brain uses all these different sensory signals and combines the available information into a coherent percept. In displays visualizing data, however, the information is often highly reduced and abstracted, which may lead to an altered perception and therefore a misinterpretation of the visualized data. In this panel we will discuss mechanisms involved in the combination of sensory information and their implications for simulations using computer displays, as well as problems resulting from current display technology such as cathode-ray tubes.
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Empirical Inference Article Constructing Boosting algorithms from SVMs: an application to one-class classification. Rätsch, G., Mika, S., Schölkopf, B., Müller, K. IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence, 24(9):1184-1199, September 2002
We show via an equivalence of mathematical programs that a support vector (SV) algorithm can be translated into an equivalent boosting-like algorithm and vice versa. We exemplify this translation procedure for a new algorithm—one-class leveraging—starting from the one-class support vector machine (1-SVM). This is a first step toward unsupervised learning in a boosting framework. Building on so-called barrier methods known from the theory of constrained optimization, it returns a function, written as a convex combination of base hypotheses, that characterizes whether a given test point is likely to have been generated from the distribution underlying the training data. Simulations on one-class classification problems demonstrate the usefulness of our approach.
DOI BibTeX
Empirical Inference Conference Paper Incorporating Invariances in Non-Linear Support Vector Machines Chapelle, O., Schölkopf, B. In Advances in Neural Information Processing Systems, Advances in Neural Information Processing Systems 14, 609-616, (Editors: TG Dietterich and S Becker and Z Ghahramani), MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, USA, 15th Annual Neural Information Processing Systems Conference (NIPS 2001), September 2002
The choice of an SVM kernel corresponds to the choice of a representation of the data in a feature space and, to improve performance, it should therefore incorporate prior knowledge such as known transformation invariances. We propose a technique which extends earlier work and aims at incorporating invariances in nonlinear kernels. We show on a digit recognition task that the proposed approach is superior to the Virtual Support Vector method, which previously had been the method of choice.
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Empirical Inference Technical Report Kernel Dependency Estimation Weston, J., Chapelle, O., Elisseeff, A., Schölkopf, B., Vapnik, V. (98), Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, August 2002
We consider the learning problem of finding a dependency between a general class of objects and another, possibly different, general class of objects. The objects can be for example: vectors, images, strings, trees or graphs. Such a task is made possible by employing similarity measures in both input and output spaces using kernel functions, thus embedding the objects into vector spaces. Output kernels also make it possible to encode prior information and/or invariances in the loss function in an elegant way. We experimentally validate our approach on several tasks: mapping strings to strings, pattern recognition, and reconstruction from partial images.
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Empirical Inference Poster Phase information in the recognition of natural images Braun, D., Wichmann, F., Gegenfurtner, K. Perception, 31(ECVP Abstract Supplement):133, 25th European Conference on Visual Perception, August 2002
Fourier phase plays an important role in determining global image structure. For example, when the phase spectrum of an image of a flower is swapped with that of a tank, we usually perceive a tank, even though the amplitude spectrum is still that of the flower. Similarly, when the phase spectrum of an image is randomly swapped across frequencies, that is its Fourier energy is randomly distributed over the image, the resulting image becomes impossible to recognise. Our goal was to evaluate the effect of phase manipulations in a quantitative manner. Subjects viewed two images of natural scenes, one of which contained an animal (the target) embedded in the background. The spectra of the images were manipulated by adding random phase noise at each frequency. The phase noise was the independent variable, uniformly distributed between 0° and ±180°. Subjects were remarkably resistant to phase noise. Even with ±120° noise, subjects were still 75% correct. The proportion of correct answers closely followed the correlation between original and noise-distorted images. Thus it appears as if it was not the global phase information per se that determines our percept of natural images, but rather the effect of phase on local image features.
Web BibTeX
Empirical Inference Article The contributions of color to recognition memory for natural scenes Wichmann, F., Sharpe, L., Gegenfurtner, K. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory and Cognition, 28(3):509-520, May 2002
The authors used a recognition memory paradigm to assess the influence of color information on visual memory for images of natural scenes. Subjects performed 5-10% better for colored than for black-and-white images independent of exposure duration. Experiment 2 indicated little influence of contrast once the images were suprathreshold, and Experiment 3 revealed that performance worsened when images were presented in color and tested in black and white, or vice versa, leading to the conclusion that the surface property color is part of the memory representation. Experiments 4 and 5 exclude the possibility that the superior recognition memory for colored images results solely from attentional factors or saliency. Finally, the recognition memory advantage disappears for falsely colored images of natural scenes: The improvement in recognition memory depends on the color congruence of presented images with learned knowledge about the color gamut found within natural scenes. The results can be accounted for within a multiple memory systems framework.
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Empirical Inference Poster Detection and discrimination in pink noise Wichmann, F., Henning, G. 5:100, 5. T{\"u}binger Wahrnehmungskonferenz (TWK 2002), February 2002
Much of our information about early spatial vision comes from detection experiments involving low-contrast stimuli, which are not, perhaps, particularly "natural" stimuli. Contrast discrimination experiments provide one way to explore the visual system's response to stimuli of higher contrast whilst keeping the number of unknown parameters comparatively small. We explored both detection and contrast discrimination performance with sinusoidal and "pulse-train" (or line) gratings. Both types of grating had a fundamental spatial frequency of 2.09-c/deg but the pulse-train, ideally, contains, in addition to its fundamental component, all the harmonics of the fundamental. Although the 2.09-c/deg pulse-train produced on our display was measured using a high-performance digital camera (Photometrics) and shown to contain at least 8 harmonics at equal contrast, it was no more detectable than its most detectable component; no benefit from having additional information at the harmonics was measurable. The addition of broadband 1-D "pink" noise made it about a factor of four more detectable than any of its components. However, in contrast-discrimination experiments, with an in-phase pedestal or masking grating of the same form and phase as the signal and 15% contrast, the noise did not improve the discrimination performance of the pulse train relative to that of its sinusoidal components. We discuss the implications of these observations for models of early vision in particular the implications for possible sources of internal noise.
Web BibTeX
Empirical Inference Article Training invariant support vector machines DeCoste, D., Schölkopf, B. Machine Learning, 46(1-3):161-190, January 2002
Practical experience has shown that in order to obtain the best possible performance, prior knowledge about invariances of a classification problem at hand ought to be incorporated into the training procedure. We describe and review all known methods for doing so in support vector machines, provide experimental results, and discuss their respective merits. One of the significant new results reported in this work is our recent achievement of the lowest reported test error on the well-known MNIST digit recognition benchmark task, with SVM training times that are also significantly faster than previous SVM methods.
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Empirical Inference Technical Report A compression approach to support vector model selection von Luxburg, U., Bousquet, O., Schölkopf, B. (101), Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, 2002, see more detailed JMLR version
In this paper we investigate connections between statistical learning theory and data compression on the basis of support vector machine (SVM) model selection. Inspired by several generalization bounds we construct ``compression coefficients'' for SVMs, which measure the amount by which the training labels can be compressed by some classification hypothesis. The main idea is to relate the coding precision of this hypothesis to the width of the margin of the SVM. The compression coefficients connect well known quantities such as the radius-margin ratio R^2/rho^2, the eigenvalues of the kernel matrix and the number of support vectors. To test whether they are useful in practice we ran model selection experiments on several real world datasets. As a result we found that compression coefficients can fairly accurately predict the parameters for which the test error is minimized.
BibTeX
Empirical Inference Conference Paper A kernel approach for learning from almost orthogonal patterns Schölkopf, B., Weston, J., Eskin, E., Leslie, C., Noble, W. In 13th European Conference on Machine Learning (ECML 2002) and 6th European Conference on Principles and Practice of Knowledge Discovery in Databases (PKDD'2002), Helsinki, Principles of Data Mining and Knowledge Discovery, Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 2430/2431:511-528, Lecture Notes in Computer Science, (Editors: T Elomaa and H Mannila and H Toivonen), Springer, Berlin, Germany, 13th European Conference on Machine Learning (ECML 2002) and 6th European Conference on Principles and Practice of Knowledge Discovery in Databases (PKDD'2002), 2002 PostScript DOI BibTeX
Empirical Inference Poster Application of Monte Carlo Methods to Psychometric Function Fitting Wichmann, F. Proceedings of the 33rd European Conference on Mathematical Psychology, 44, 2002
The psychometric function relates an observer's performance to an independent variable, usually some physical quantity of a stimulus in a psychophysical task. Here I describe methods to (1) fitting psychometric functions, (2) assessing goodness-of-fit, and (3) providing confidence intervals for the function's parameters and other estimates derived from them. First I describe a constrained maximum-likelihood method for parameter estimation. Using Monte-Carlo simulations I demonstrate that it is important to have a fitting method that takes stimulus-independent errors (or "lapses") into account. Second, a number of goodness-of-fit tests are introduced. Because psychophysical data sets are usually rather small I advocate the use of Monte Carlo resampling techniques that do not rely on asymptotic theory for goodness-of-fit assessment. Third, a parametric bootstrap is employed to estimate the variability of fitted parameters and derived quantities such as thresholds and slopes. I describe how the bootstrap bridging assumption, on which the validity of the procedure depends, can be tested without incurring too high a cost in computation time. Finally I describe how the methods can be extended to test hypotheses concerning the form and shape of several psychometric functions. Software describing the methods is available (http://www.bootstrap-software.com/psignifit/), as well as articles describing the methods in detail (Wichmann&Hill, Perception&Psychophysics, 2001a,b).
BibTeX
Empirical Inference Article Contrast discrimination with pulse-trains in pink noise Henning, G., Bird, C., Wichmann, F. Journal of the Optical Society of America A, 19(7):1259-1266, 2002
Detection performance was measured with sinusoidal and pulse-train gratings. Although the 2.09-c/deg pulse-train, or line gratings, contained at least 8 harmonics all at equal contrast, they were no more detectable than their most detectable component. The addition of broadband pink noise designed to equalize the detectability of the components of the pulse train made the pulse train about a factor of four more detectable than any of its components. However, in contrast-discrimination experiments, with a pedestal or masking grating of the same form and phase as the signal and 15% contrast, the noise did not affect the discrimination performance of the pulse train relative to that obtained with its sinusoidal components. We discuss the implications of these observations for models of early vision in particular the implications for possible sources of internal noise.
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Empirical Inference Article Contrast discrimination with sinusoidal gratings of different spatial frequency Bird, C., Henning, G., Wichmann, F. Journal of the Optical Society of America A, 19(7):1267-1273, 2002
The detectability of contrast increments was measured as a function of the contrast of a masking or “pedestal” grating at a number of different spatial frequencies ranging from 2 to 16 cycles per degree of visual angle. The pedestal grating always had the same orientation, spatial frequency and phase as the signal. The shape of the contrast increment threshold versus pedestal contrast (TvC) functions depend of the performance level used to define the “threshold,” but when both axes are normalized by the contrast corresponding to 75% correct detection at each frequency, the (TvC) functions at a given performance level are identical. Confidence intervals on the slope of the rising part of the TvC functions are so wide that it is not possible with our data to reject Weber’s Law.
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Empirical Inference Conference Paper Luminance Artifacts on CRT Displays Wichmann, F. In IEEE Visualization, 571-574, (Editors: Moorhead, R.; Gross, M.; Joy, K. I.), IEEE Visualization, 2002
Most visualization panels today are still built around cathode-ray tubes (CRTs), certainly on personal desktops at work and at home. Whilst capable of producing pleasing images for common applications ranging from email writing to TV and DVD presentation, it is as well to note that there are a number of nonlinear transformations between input (voltage) and output (luminance) which distort the digital and/or analogue images send to a CRT. Some of them are input-independent and hence easy to fix, e.g. gamma correction, but others, such as pixel interactions, depend on the content of the input stimulus and are thus harder to compensate for. CRT-induced image distortions cause problems not only in basic vision research but also for applications where image fidelity is critical, most notably in medicine (digitization of X-ray images for diagnostic purposes) and in forms of online commerce, such as the online sale of images, where the image must be reproduced on some output device which will not have the same transfer function as the customer's CRT. I will present measurements from a number of CRTs and illustrate how some of their shortcomings may be problematic for the aforementioned applications.
BibTeX
Empirical Inference Poster Optimal linear estimation of self-motion - a real-world test of a model of fly tangential neurons Franz, M. SAB 02 Workshop, Robotics as theoretical biology, 7th meeting of the International Society for Simulation of Adaptive Behaviour (SAB), (Editors: Prescott, T.; Webb, B.), 2002
The tangential neurons in the fly brain are sensitive to the typical optic flow patterns generated during self-motion (see example in Fig.1). We examine whether a simplified linear model of these neurons can be used to estimate self-motion from the optic flow. We present a theory for the construction of an optimal linear estimator incorporating prior knowledge both about the distance distribution of the environment, and about the noise and self-motion statistics of the sensor. The optimal estimator is tested on a gantry carrying an omnidirectional vision sensor that can be moved along three translational and one rotational degree of freedom. The experiments indicate that the proposed approach yields accurate results for rotation estimates, independently of the current translation and scene layout. Translation estimates, however, turned out to be sensitive to simultaneous rotation and to the particular distance distribution of the scene. The gantry experiments confirm that the receptive field organization of the tangential neurons allows them, as an ensemble, to extract self-motion from the optic flow.
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Empirical Inference Article Support Vector Machines and Kernel Methods: The New Generation of Learning Machines Cristianini, N., Schölkopf, B. AI Magazine, 23(3):31-41, 2002 BibTeX