Analysis of Descriptors of Concept Drift and Their Impacts

Concept drift, a phenomenon that can lead to degradation of classifier performance over time, is commonly addressed in the literature through detection and reaction strategies. However, these strategies often rely on complete classifier retraining without considering the properties of the drift, whi...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Albert Costa, Rafael Giusti, Eulanda M. dos Santos
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2025-01-01
Series:Informatics
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Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9709/12/1/13
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Summary:Concept drift, a phenomenon that can lead to degradation of classifier performance over time, is commonly addressed in the literature through detection and reaction strategies. However, these strategies often rely on complete classifier retraining without considering the properties of the drift, which can prove inadequate in many scenarios. Limited attention has been given to understanding the nature of drift and its characterization, which are crucial for designing effective reaction strategies. Drift descriptors provide a means to explain how new concepts replace existing ones, offering valuable insights into the nature of drift. In this context, this work examines the impact of four descriptors—severity, recurrence, frequency, and speed—on concept drift through extensive theoretical and experimental analysis. Experiments were conducted on five datasets with 32 descriptor variations, eight drift detectors, and a non-detection context, resulting in 1440 combinations. The findings reveal three key conclusions: (i) reaction strategies must be tailored to different types of drift; (ii) severity, recurrence, and frequency descriptors have the highest impact, whereas speed has minimal influence; and (iii) there is a need to incorporate mechanisms for describing concept drift into the strategies designed to address it.
ISSN:2227-9709