Hubness-aware kNN classification of high-dimensional data in presence of label noise

Learning with label noise is an important issue in classification, since it is not always possible to obtain reliable data labels. In this paper we explore and evaluate a new approach to learning with label noise in intrinsically high-dimensional data, based on using neighbor occurrence models for hubness-aware k-nearest neighbor classification. Hubness is an important aspect of the curse of dimensionality that has a negative effect on many types of similarity-based learning methods. As we will show, the emergence of hubs as centers of influence in high-dimensional data affects the learning process in the presence of label noise. We evaluate the potential impact of hub-centered noise by defining a hubness-proportional random label noise model that is shown to induce a significantly higher kNN misclassification rate than the uniform random label noise. Real-world examples are discussed where hubness-correlated noise arises either naturally or as a consequence of an adversarial attack. Our experimental evaluation reveals that hubness-based fuzzy k-nearest neighbor classification and Naive Hubness-Bayesian k-nearest neighbor classification might be suitable for learning under label noise in intrinsically high-dimensional data, as they exhibit robustness to high levels of random label noise and hubness-proportional random label noise. The results demonstrate promising performance across several data domains.