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Other literature type . 2026
License: CC BY
Data sources: Datacite
ZENODO
Other literature type . 2026
License: CC BY
Data sources: Datacite
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V4 Grow-Only Architecture: Eliminating Catastrophic Forgetting Through Additive Neural Growth

Authors: webber, conner;

V4 Grow-Only Architecture: Eliminating Catastrophic Forgetting Through Additive Neural Growth

Abstract

Catastrophic forgetting remains a fundamental challenge in neural network training, where learning new information degrades performance on previously learned tasks. We present V4 of grow-only architecture that eliminates catastrophic forgetting through strictly additive neural growth - neurons are added but never removed or modified destructively. Combined with minimal LoRA adaptation (r=16, 2 modules, 2.18M parameters), our approach achieves 76% accuracy on ARC-Easy (vs 32.5% baseline), 49.5% on ARC-Challenge, and 35.5% on HellaSwag. Crucially, V4 maintains 100% prior task performance during domain shifts, compared to 8.3% degradation in V3 architectures. Over 97K training steps, the model grew by only 504 neurons (+0.27% parameters), demonstrating that effective continual learning requires minimal architectural overhead. Our results suggest that the forgetting problem in neural networks can be addressed through growth constraints rather than complex replay mechanisms or regularization schemes.

Keywords

machine learning, ai, neural architecture, deep learning, LoRA, continual learning

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selected citations
These citations are derived from selected sources.
This is an alternative to the "Influence" indicator, which also reflects the overall/total impact of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network (diachronically).
BIP!Citations provided by BIP!
popularity
This indicator reflects the "current" impact/attention (the "hype") of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network.
BIP!Popularity provided by BIP!
influence
This indicator reflects the overall/total impact of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network (diachronically).
BIP!Influence provided by BIP!
impulse
This indicator reflects the initial momentum of an article directly after its publication, based on the underlying citation network.
BIP!Impulse provided by BIP!
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Average
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