Efficient Learning of Deep Boltzmann Machines

We present a new approximate inference algorithm for Deep Boltzmann Machines (DBM's), a generative model with many layers of hidden variables. The algorithm learns a separate "recognition" model that is used to quickly initialize, in a single bottom-up pass, the values of the latent variables in all hidden layers. We show that using such a recognition model, followed by a combined top-down and bottom-up pass, it is possible to efficiently learn a good generative model of high-dimensional highly-structured sensory input. We show that the additional computations required by incorporating a top-down feedback plays a critical role in the performance of a DBM, both as a generative and discriminative model. Moreover, inference is only at most three times slower compared to the approximate inference in a Deep Belief Network (DBN), making large-scale learning of DBM's practical. Finally, we demonstrate that the DBM's trained using the proposed approximate inference al...

• Type: Journal
• Year: 2010
• Where: JMLR
• Authors: Ruslan Salakhutdinov, Hugo Larochelle
• Keywords: Approximate Inference, Approximate Inference Algorithm, JMLR 2010, Model