Representations Have Trajectories: Characterizing Temporal Representation Dynamics in Neural Networks
Recent work has shown that deep neural networks exhibit an implicit low-rank simplicity bias. In this paper, we investigate the questions that naturally arise from this observation. What are the temporal consequences of low-rank simplicity bias during optimization? How does representation geometry evolve throughout optimization rather than only at convergence? Do different neural architectures exhibit distinct geometric optimization behaviors? To answer these questions, we conduct a large-scale empirical study tracking representational geometry throughout training. We find that neural networks follow three recurring geometric trajectories: persistent high-rank, collapse-and-recovery, and ...
| Authors | Shivaprasad B. Gowda, Sparsh Mittal |
|---|---|
| Primary category | cs.LG |
| Published | 17 October 2026 |
| Last updated at source | 17 October 2026 |
Popularity, last 4 days
0 now. Counts as reported by the source, snapshotted daily by Silytics.
Silytics shows public metadata from arXiv and links to the original. Information may be incomplete or out of date. Last refreshed 23 October 2026. Licenses and terms of the original apply to the work itself. Not financial, legal or professional advice.