•We overcome a major limitation in using deep neural networks on small sample sizes•Our approach achieves state-of-the-art interpretability scores of complex features•The presented framework integrates analytical, virtual, and experimental approaches We present fully featured to studying natural images that approaches. Our framework, decontextualized hierarchical representation learning (DHRL),...

Features such as Local Binary Patterns (LBP) and Local Ternary Patterns (LTP) have been very successful in a number of areas including texture analysis, face recognition and object detection. They are based on the idea that small patterns of qualitative local gray-level differences contain a great deal of information about higher-level image content. Existing local pattern features use hand-spe...