Feature Selection

Feature selection studies which variables, channels, bands, or learned dimensions carry useful information, aiming to simplify models and improve prediction, interpretation, or measurement efficiency. Common approaches include Lasso and elastic net regularization, filters such as mRMR and Boruta, Bayesian spike-and-slab models, and wrapper or evolutionary searches; newer methods use neural gates, attribution scores, and sequential policies. Unsupervised methods select features for clustering or representation learning, while applications span tabular data, omics, EEG, hyperspectral imagery, and time series. A central challenge is that selected features can change with correlated inputs, evaluation design, or distribution shifts, so predictive accuracy must be considered alongside stability, error control, computational cost, and strong baselines.