Classifying a Novel Sparse Attention Mechanism
Given the following description of a new sparse attention mechanism, classify it as either positional-based or content-based and explain your reasoning.
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Data Science
Ch.2 Generative Models - Foundations of Large Language Models
Foundations of Large Language Models
Foundations of Large Language Models Course
Computing Sciences
Application in Bloom's Taxonomy
Cognitive Psychology
Psychology
Social Science
Empirical Science
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Content-based Sparse Attention
Positional-based Sparse Attention
An engineer develops a sparse attention mechanism where, for any given token, the set of other tokens it can attend to is defined by a pre-determined, structured pattern based on their relative distance in the sequence. For example, a token might only attend to the 8 tokens immediately preceding it. This attention pattern does not change, regardless of the specific words or meaning of the input text. Based on how the set of attended-to indices is defined, how should this mechanism be classified?
A key characteristic of all sparse attention models is that the set of attended-to indices for a given token is dynamically determined by finding other tokens with the most similar content.