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Related papers: How to explain grokking

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A principled understanding of generalization in deep learning may require unifying disparate observations under a single conceptual framework. Previous work has studied \emph{grokking}, a training dynamic in which a sustained period of…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2023-03-14 Xander Davies , Lauro Langosco , David Krueger

Grokking, the unusual phenomenon for algorithmic datasets where generalization happens long after overfitting the training data, has remained elusive. We aim to understand grokking by analyzing the loss landscapes of neural networks,…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2023-03-24 Ziming Liu , Eric J. Michaud , Max Tegmark

Grokking is the phenomenon where neural networks NNs initially fit the training data and later generalize to the test data during training. In this paper, we empirically provide a frequency perspective to explain the emergence of this…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2024-05-29 Zhangchen Zhou , Yaoyu Zhang , Zhi-Qin John Xu

The phenomenon of grokking in over-parameterized neural networks has garnered significant interest. It involves the neural network initially memorizing the training set with zero training error and near-random test error. Subsequent…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2024-12-17 Hu Qiye , Zhou Hao , Yu RuoXi

We present a theoretical explanation of the ``grokking'' phenomenon, where a model generalizes long after overfitting,for the originally-studied problem of modular addition. First, we show that early in gradient descent, when the ``kernel…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2024-07-18 Mohamad Amin Mohamadi , Zhiyuan Li , Lei Wu , Danica J. Sutherland

Grokking refers to delayed generalization in which the increase in test accuracy of a neural network occurs appreciably after the improvement in training accuracy This paper introduces several practical metrics including variance under…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2025-07-17 Ahmed Salah , David Yevick

We propose that the grokking phenomenon, where the train loss of a neural network decreases much earlier than its test loss, can arise due to a neural network transitioning from lazy training dynamics to a rich, feature learning regime. To…

Machine Learning · Statistics 2024-04-12 Tanishq Kumar , Blake Bordelon , Samuel J. Gershman , Cengiz Pehlevan

We investigate grokking in transformers through the lens of inductive bias: dispositions arising from architecture or optimization that let the network prefer one solution over another. We first show that architectural choices such as the…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2026-02-09 Jaisidh Singh , Diganta Misra , Antonio Orvieto

In continual learning problems, it is often necessary to overwrite components of a neural network's learned representation in response to changes in the data stream; however, neural networks often exhibit \primacy bias, whereby early…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2025-07-29 Clare Lyle , Gharda Sokar , Razvan Pascanu , Andras Gyorgy

Grokking typically achieves similar loss to ordinary, "steady", learning. We ask whether these different learning paths - grokking versus ordinary training - lead to fundamental differences in the learned models. To do so we compare the…

Grokking, referring to the abrupt improvement in test accuracy after extended overfitting, offers valuable insights into the mechanisms of model generalization. Existing researches based on progress measures imply that grokking relies on…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2025-04-15 Zihan Gu , Ruoyu Chen , Hua Zhang , Yue Hu , Xiaochun Cao

Grokking is a intriguing phenomenon in machine learning where a neural network, after many training iterations with negligible improvement in generalization, suddenly achieves high accuracy on unseen data. By working in the quantum-inspired…

One of the most surprising puzzles in neural network generalisation is grokking: a network with perfect training accuracy but poor generalisation will, upon further training, transition to perfect generalisation. We propose that grokking…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2023-09-06 Vikrant Varma , Rohin Shah , Zachary Kenton , János Kramár , Ramana Kumar

Grokking is proposed and widely studied as an intricate phenomenon in which generalization is achieved after a long-lasting period of overfitting. In this work, we propose NeuralGrok, a novel gradient-based approach that learns an optimal…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2025-04-28 Xinyu Zhou , Simin Fan , Martin Jaggi , Jie Fu

Recently, an interesting phenomenon called grokking has gained much attention, where generalization occurs long after the models have initially overfitted the training data. We try to understand this seemingly strange phenomenon through the…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2024-02-05 Zhiquan Tan , Weiran Huang

Grokking in modular arithmetic has established itself as the quintessential fruit fly experiment, serving as a critical domain for investigating the mechanistic origins of model generalization. Despite its significance, existing research…

Artificial Intelligence · Computer Science 2026-04-01 Junjie Zhang , Zhen Shen , Gang Xiong , Xisong Dong

Training loss and accuracy are the standard signals used to monitor generalization during deep neural network training. Two well-documented phenomena complicate this picture: in grokking, train loss falls rapidly while test performance…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2026-05-29 Chi-Ning Chou , Oscar Uzdelewicz , Neng-Chun Chiu , Yao-Yuan Yang , SueYeon Chung

While the phenomenon of grokking, i.e., delayed generalization, has been studied extensively, it remains an open problem whether there is a mathematical framework that characterizes what kind of features will emerge, how and in which…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2025-12-03 Yuandong Tian

This paper focuses on predicting the occurrence of grokking in neural networks, a phenomenon in which perfect generalization emerges long after signs of overfitting or memorization are observed. It has been reported that grokking can only…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2023-10-02 Pascal Jr. Tikeng Notsawo , Hattie Zhou , Mohammad Pezeshki , Irina Rish , Guillaume Dumas

We attribute grokking, the phenomenon where generalization is much delayed after memorization, to compression. To do so, we define linear mapping number (LMN) to measure network complexity, which is a generalized version of linear region…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2023-10-10 Ziming Liu , Ziqian Zhong , Max Tegmark