%0 Journal Article %@ 0893-6080 %A Gnecco, Giorgio %A Kůrková, Věra %A Sanguineti, Marcello %D 2011 %F eprints:1751 %I Elseviers %J Neural Networks %K Dictionary-based approximation; Linear approximation; Rates of approximation; Worst-case error; Kolmogorov width; Perceptron networks %N 8 %P 881 - 887 %T Can Dictionary-Based Computational Models Outperform the Best Linear Ones? %U http://eprints.imtlucca.it/1751/ %V 24 %X Approximation capabilities of two types of computational models are explored: dictionary-based models (i.e., linear combinations of n -tuples of basis functions computable by units belonging to a set called “dictionary”) and linear ones (i.e., linear combinations of n fixed basis functions). The two models are compared in terms of approximation rates, i.e., speeds of decrease of approximation errors for a growing number n of basis functions. Proofs of upper bounds on approximation rates by dictionary-based models are inspected, to show that for individual functions they do not imply estimates for dictionary-based models that do not hold also for some linear models. Instead, the possibility of getting faster approximation rates by dictionary-based models is demonstrated for worst-case errors in approximation of suitable sets of functions. For such sets, even geometric upper bounds hold. %Z Special Issue "Artificial Neural Networks: Selected Papers from ICANN 2010"