Periodic activation function and a modified learning algorithm for the multivalued neuron

IEEE Trans Neural Netw. 2010 Dec;21(12):1939-49. doi: 10.1109/TNN.2010.2082561. Epub 2010 Nov 1.

Abstract

In this paper, we consider a new periodic activation function for the multivalued neuron (MVN). The MVN is a neuron with complex-valued weights and inputs/output, which are located on the unit circle. Although the MVN outperforms many other neurons and MVN-based neural networks have shown their high potential, the MVN still has a limited capability of learning highly nonlinear functions. A periodic activation function, which is introduced in this paper, makes it possible to learn nonlinearly separable problems and non-threshold multiple-valued functions using a single multivalued neuron. We call this neuron a multivalued neuron with a periodic activation function (MVN-P). The MVN-Ps functionality is much higher than that of the regular MVN. The MVN-P is more efficient in solving various classification problems. A learning algorithm based on the error-correction rule for the MVN-P is also presented. It is shown that a single MVN-P can easily learn and solve those benchmark classification problems that were considered unsolvable using a single neuron. It is also shown that a universal binary neuron, which can learn nonlinearly separable Boolean functions, and a regular MVN are particular cases of the MVN-P.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Algorithms*
  • Databases, Factual
  • Neural Networks, Computer*
  • Nonlinear Dynamics