layer-wise relevance propagation
**LRP** (Layer-wise Relevance Propagation) is an **attribution technique that distributes the model's output prediction backward through the network layers** — at each layer, relevance is redistributed to the inputs according to propagation rules, ultimately assigning relevance scores to each input feature.
**How LRP Works**
- **Start**: Initialize relevance at the output: $R_j^{(L)} = f(x)$ (the prediction).
- **Propagation**: Redistribute relevance backward: $R_i^{(l)} = sum_j frac{a_i w_{ij}}{sum_k a_k w_{kj}} R_j^{(l+1)}$.
- **Rules**: LRP-0 (basic), LRP-$epsilon$ (numerical stability), LRP-$gamma$ (favor positive contributions).
- **Conservation**: Total relevance is conserved at each layer — $sum_i R_i^{(l)} = sum_j R_j^{(l+1)}$.
**Why It Matters**
- **Conservation**: Relevance is neither created nor destroyed — complete, faithful attribution.
- **Layer-Specific Rules**: Different propagation rules can be used at different layers for best results.
- **Deep Taylor Decomposition**: LRP has theoretical connections to Taylor decomposition of the network function.
**LRP** is **backward relevance flow** — propagating the prediction backward through the network to trace which inputs were most relevant.