MMNeuron: Discovering Neuron-Level Domain-Specific Interpretation in Multimodal Large Language Model

Projecting visual features into word embedding space has become a significant fusion strategy adopted by Multimodal Large Language Models (MLLMs). However, its internal mechanisms have yet to be explored. Inspired by multilingual research, we identify <PRE_TAG>domain-specific neurons</POST_TAG> in multimodal large language models. Specifically, we investigate the distribution of domain-specific neurons and the mechanism of how MLLMs process features from diverse domains. Furthermore, we propose a three-stage framework for language model modules in MLLMs when handling projected image features, and verify this hypothesis using logit lens. Extensive experiments indicate that while current MLLMs exhibit Visual Question Answering (VQA) capability, they may not fully utilize domain-specific information. Manipulating <PRE_TAG>domain-specific neurons</POST_TAG> properly will result in a 10\% change of accuracy at most, shedding light on the development of cross-domain, all-encompassing MLLMs in the future. Our code will be released upon paper notification.