Readout Scaling Shapes Sparse Feature Recovery

Abstract

Readout scaling changes what a sparse autoencoder (SAE) learns, but the benefit of removing it depends on the data. We use readout-canonicalized decision-space (RC-DS) coordinates to remove singular-value gains while preserving retained decision information. At a fixed readout condition number, changing the generating distribution reverses which training coordinates recover known factors best. In our controlled coordinate-matching study, recovery is highest when training restores the space in which the factors were generated. When factors are generated before readout scaling, RC-DS increases mean sparse-factor recovery from 0.506 to 0.913 at condition number 100, compared with centered-logit training under the same budget. An exact wrapper reproduces RC-DS training to numerical precision, isolating training geometry rather than additional information. In neural policies, RC-DS improves mean logit reconstruction under the tested budgets. On three fixed language-model checkpoints, RC-DS has higher mean gain-free reconstruction in all 18 tested task-sparsity settings, while centered-logit SAEs reconstruct output logits better in 17. Small-label-head controls show that longer training reduces the reconstruction gap from 0.0198 to 0.0016. Together, these results show how readout scaling, the data distribution, and training shape sparse learning. RC-DS provides an information-preserving method for studying and controlling the readout's contribution. Separate label-detection and steering tests distinguish these reconstruction effects from task-specific feature usefulness.