NetworkFF: Unified Layer Optimization in Forward-Only Neural Networks

A novel approach to explainable artificial intelligence (AI) has been proposed, leveraging Quantum Boltzmann Machines (QBMs) and Classical Boltzmann Machines (CBMs) to enhance decision-making transparency. This framework utilizes gradient-based saliency maps and SHAP for feature attribution, addressing the critical challenge of explainability in high-stakes domains like healthcare and finance.

A new supervised learning rule, Spike Agreement-Dependent Plasticity (SADP), has been introduced to enhance fast local learning in spiking neural networks (SNNs). This method replaces traditional pairwise spike-timing comparisons with population-level agreement metrics, allowing for efficient supervised learning without backpropagation or surrogate gradients. Extensive experiments on datasets like MNIST and CIFAR-10 demonstrate its effectiveness.

A new study proposes a sleep-based homeostatic regularization scheme to stabilize spike-timing-dependent plasticity (STDP) in recurrent spiking neural networks (SNNs). This approach aims to mitigate issues such as unbounded weight growth and catastrophic forgetting by introducing offline phases where synaptic weights decay towards a homeostatic baseline, enhancing memory consolidation.