This paper proposes a modified error function to improve the error back-propagation (EBP) algorithm for multi-Layer perceptrons (MLPs) which suffers from slow learning speed. It can also suppress over-specialization for training patterns that occurs in an algorithm based on a cross-entropy cost function which markedly reduces learning time. In the similar way as the cross-entropy function, our new function accelerates the learning speed of the EBP algorithm by allowing the output node of the MLP to generate a strong error signal when the output node is far from the desired value. Moreover, it prevents the overspecialization of learning for training patterns by letting the output node, whose value is close to the desired value, generate a weak error signal. In a simulation study to classify handwritten digits in the CEDAR database, the proposed method attained 100% correct classification for the training patterns after only 50 sweeps of learning, while the original EBP attained only 98.8% after 500 sweeps. Also, our method shows mean-squared error of 0.627 for the test patterns, which is superior to the error 0.667 in the cross-entropy method. These results demonstrate that our new method excels others in learning speed as well as in generalization.
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