Leveraging Normalization Layer in Adapters with Progressive Learning and Adaptive Distillation for Cross-Domain Few-Shot Learning

Cross-domain few-shot learning presents a formidable challenge, as models must be trained on base classes and then tested on novel classes from various domains with only a few samples at hand. While prior approaches have primarily focused on parameter-efficient methods of using adapters, they often overlook two critical issues: shifts in batch statistics and noisy sample statistics arising from domain discrepancy variations. In this paper, we introduce a novel generic framework that leverages normalization layer in adapters with Progressive Learning and Adaptive Distillation (ProLAD), marking two principal contributions. First, our methodology utilizes two separate adapters: one devoid of a normalization layer, which is more effective for similar domains, and another embedded with a normalization layer, designed to leverage the batch statistics of the target domain, thus proving effective for dissimilar domains. Second, to address the pitfalls of noisy statistics, we deploy two strategies: a progressive training of the two adapters and an adaptive distillation technique derived from features determined by the model solely with the adapter devoid of a normalization layer. Through this adaptive distillation, our approach functions as a modulator, controlling the primary adapter for adaptation, based on each domain. Evaluations on standard cross-domain few-shot learning benchmarks confirm that our technique outperforms existing state-of-the-art methodologies.