Those topological compositions are empirically effective and observed to smooth the loss landscape and facilitate the gradient flow in general.

Neural Information Processing Systems http://nips.cc/

Advanced deep neural networks (DNNs), designed by either human or AutoML algorithms, are growing increasingly complex. Diverse operations are connected by complicated connectivity patterns, e.g., various types of skip connections. Those topological compositions are empirically effective and observed to smooth the loss landscape and facilitate the gradient flow in general. However, it remains elusive to derive any principled understanding of their effects on the DNN capacity or trainability, and to understand why or in which aspect one specific connectivity pattern is better than another. In this work, we theoretically characterize the impact of connectivity patterns on the convergence of DNNs under gradient descent training in fine granularity. By analyzing a wide network's Neural Network Gaussian Process (NNGP), we are able to depict how the spectrum of an NNGP kernel propagates through a particular connectivity pattern, and how that affects the bound of convergence rates. As one practical implication of our results, we show that by a simple filtration of unpromising connectivity patterns, we can trim down the number of models to evaluate, and significantly accelerate the large-scale neural architecture search without any overhead.

Visual processing in the retina has been studied in great detail at all levels such that a comprehensive picture of the retina's cell types and the many neural circuits they form is emerging. However, the currently best performing models of retinal function are black-box CNN models which are agnostic to such biological knowledge.

We propose ThalNet, a deep learning model inspired by neocortical communication via the thalamus.

Parameters can be learned using standard methods based on back-propagation, at a cost that scales linearly in the fabric size.

Resting-state fMRI has become a valuable tool for classifying brain disorders and constructing brain functional connectivity networks by tracking BOLD signals across brain regions. However, existing mod els largely neglect the multi-frequency nature of neuronal oscillations, treating BOLD signals as monolithic time series. This overlooks the cru cial fact that neurological disorders often manifest as disruptions within specific frequency bands, limiting diagnostic sensitivity and specificity. While some methods have attempted to incorporate frequency informa tion, they often rely on predefined frequency bands, which may not be optimal for capturing individual variability or disease-specific alterations. To address this, we propose a novel framework featuring Adaptive Cas cade Decomposition to learn task-relevant frequency sub-bands for each brain region and Frequency-Coupled Connectivity Learning to capture both intra- and nuanced cross-band interactions in a unified functional network. This unified network informs a novel message-passing mecha nism within our Unified-GCN, generating refined node representations for diagnostic prediction. Experimental results on the ADNI and ABIDE datasets demonstrate superior performance over existing methods. The code is available at https://github.com/XXYY20221234/Ada-FCN.

Graph few-shot learning has attracted increasing attention due to its ability to rapidly adapt models to new tasks with only limited labeled nodes. Despite the remarkable progress made by existing graph few-shot learning methods, several key limitations remain. First, most current approaches rely on predefined and unified graph filters (e.g., low-pass or high-pass filters) to globally enhance or suppress node frequency signals. Such fixed spectral operations fail to account for the heterogeneity of local topological structures inherent in real-world graphs. Moreover, these methods often assume that the support and query sets are drawn from the same distribution. However, under few-shot conditions, the limited labeled data in the support set may not sufficiently capture the complex distribution of the query set, leading to suboptimal generalization. To address these challenges, we propose GRACE, a novel Graph few-shot leaRning framework that integrates Adaptive spectrum experts with Cross-sEt distribution calibration techniques. Theoretically, the proposed approach enhances model generalization by adapting to both local structural variations and cross-set distribution calibration. Empirically, GRACE consistently outperforms state-of-the-art baselines across a wide range of experimental settings. Our code can be found here.

Sparse neural networks promise efficiency, yet training them effectively remains a fundamental challenge. Despite advances in pruning methods that create sparse architectures, understanding why some sparse structures are better trainable than others with the same level of sparsity remains poorly understood. Aiming to develop a systematic approach to this fundamental problem, we propose a novel theoretical framework based on the theory of graph limits, particularly graphons, that characterizes sparse neural networks in the infinite-width regime. Our key insight is that connectivity patterns of sparse neural networks induced by pruning methods converge to specific graphons as networks' width tends to infinity, which encodes implicit structural biases of different pruning methods. We postulate the Graphon Limit Hypothesis and provide empirical evidence to support it. Leveraging this graphon representation, we derive a Graphon Neural Tangent Kernel (Graphon NTK) to study the training dynamics of sparse networks in the infinite width limit. Graphon NTK provides a general framework for the theoretical analysis of sparse networks. We empirically show that the spectral analysis of Graphon NTK correlates with observed training dynamics of sparse networks, explaining the varying convergence behaviours of different pruning methods. Our framework provides theoretical insights into the impact of connectivity patterns on the trainability of various sparse network architectures.

Nearly one in five adolescents currently live with a diagnosed mental or behavioral health condition, such as anxiety, depression, or conduct disorder, underscoring the urgency of developing accurate and interpretable diagnostic tools. Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) provides a powerful lens into large-scale functional connectivity, where brain regions are modeled as nodes and inter-regional synchrony as edges, offering clinically relevant biomarkers for psychiatric disorders. While prior works use graph neural network (GNN) approaches for disorder prediction, they remain complex black-boxes, limiting their reliability and clinical translation. In this work, we propose CONCEPTNEURO, a concept-based diagnosis framework that leverages large language models (LLMs) and neurobiological domain knowledge to automatically generate, filter, and encode interpretable functional connectivity concepts. Each concept is represented as a structured subgraph linking specific brain regions, which are then passed through a concept classifier. Our design ensures predictions through clinically meaningful connectivity patterns, enabling both interpretability and strong predictive performance. Extensive experiments across multiple psychiatric disorder datasets demonstrate that CONCEPTNEURO-augmented GNNs consistently outperform their vanilla counterparts, improving accuracy while providing transparent, clinically aligned explanations. Furthermore, concept analyses highlight disorder-specific connectivity patterns that align with expert knowledge and suggest new hypotheses for future investigation, establishing CONCEPTNEURO as an interpretable, domain-informed framework for psychiatric disorder diagnosis.