Beginner · Neural Networks

Hidden Layer

Visual diagram · (in preparation) · Math · (in preparation) · Worked example · 3 difficulty levels.

TL;DR. Any layer in a neural network that is neither the input nor the output.

Technical Definition

Any layer in a neural network that is neither the input nor the output.

How it works

Hidden layers learn intermediate representations — edges, then shapes, then objects in vision; subwords, then syntax, then semantics in language. Networks with many hidden layers are called 'deep', giving rise to the term deep learning.

Related Concepts

• Neural Network — A computing system inspired by biological neural networks that learns patterns from data through interconnected layers of nodes.
• Deep Learning — A subset of machine learning using neural networks with many layers to learn hierarchical representations from large datasets.
• Layer — A group of neurons that perform the same kind of transformation in parallel.