A New Competitive Neural Architecture for Object Classification

Abstract

In this paper, we propose a new neural architecture for object classification, made up from a set of competitive layers whose number and size are dynamically learned from training data using a two-step process that combines unsupervised and supervised learning modes. The first step consists in finding a set of one or more optimal prototypes for each of the c classes that form the training data. For this, it uses the unsupervised learning and prototype generator algorithm called fuzzy learning vector quantization (FLVQ). The second step aims to assess the quality of the learned prototypes in terms of classification results. For this, the c classes are reconstructed by assigning each object to the class represented by its nearest prototype, and the obtained results are compared to the original classes. If one or more constructed classes differ from the original ones, the corresponding prototypes are not validated and the whole process is repeated for all misclassified objects, using additional competitive layers, until no difference persists between the constructed and the original classes or a maximum number of layers is reached. Experimental results show the effectiveness of the proposed method on a variety of well-known benchmark data sets.