6,705 research outputs found
Generalized Network Psychometrics: Combining Network and Latent Variable Models
We introduce the network model as a formal psychometric model,
conceptualizing the covariance between psychometric indicators as resulting
from pairwise interactions between observable variables in a network structure.
This contrasts with standard psychometric models, in which the covariance
between test items arises from the influence of one or more common latent
variables. Here, we present two generalizations of the network model that
encompass latent variable structures, establishing network modeling as parts of
the more general framework of Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). In the first
generalization, we model the covariance structure of latent variables as a
network. We term this framework Latent Network Modeling (LNM) and show that,
with LNM, a unique structure of conditional independence relationships between
latent variables can be obtained in an explorative manner. In the second
generalization, the residual variance-covariance structure of indicators is
modeled as a network. We term this generalization Residual Network Modeling
(RNM) and show that, within this framework, identifiable models can be obtained
in which local independence is structurally violated. These generalizations
allow for a general modeling framework that can be used to fit, and compare,
SEM models, network models, and the RNM and LNM generalizations. This
methodology has been implemented in the free-to-use software package lvnet,
which contains confirmatory model testing as well as two exploratory search
algorithms: stepwise search algorithms for low-dimensional datasets and
penalized maximum likelihood estimation for larger datasets. We show in
simulation studies that these search algorithms performs adequately in
identifying the structure of the relevant residual or latent networks. We
further demonstrate the utility of these generalizations in an empirical
example on a personality inventory dataset.Comment: Published in Psychometrik
Pairwise MRF Calibration by Perturbation of the Bethe Reference Point
We investigate different ways of generating approximate solutions to the
pairwise Markov random field (MRF) selection problem. We focus mainly on the
inverse Ising problem, but discuss also the somewhat related inverse Gaussian
problem because both types of MRF are suitable for inference tasks with the
belief propagation algorithm (BP) under certain conditions. Our approach
consists in to take a Bethe mean-field solution obtained with a maximum
spanning tree (MST) of pairwise mutual information, referred to as the
\emph{Bethe reference point}, for further perturbation procedures. We consider
three different ways following this idea: in the first one, we select and
calibrate iteratively the optimal links to be added starting from the Bethe
reference point; the second one is based on the observation that the natural
gradient can be computed analytically at the Bethe point; in the third one,
assuming no local field and using low temperature expansion we develop a dual
loop joint model based on a well chosen fundamental cycle basis. We indeed
identify a subclass of planar models, which we refer to as \emph{Bethe-dual
graph models}, having possibly many loops, but characterized by a singly
connected dual factor graph, for which the partition function and the linear
response can be computed exactly in respectively O(N) and operations,
thanks to a dual weight propagation (DWP) message passing procedure that we set
up. When restricted to this subclass of models, the inverse Ising problem being
convex, becomes tractable at any temperature. Experimental tests on various
datasets with refined or regularization procedures indicate that
these approaches may be competitive and useful alternatives to existing ones.Comment: 54 pages, 8 figure. section 5 and refs added in V
Cycle-based Cluster Variational Method for Direct and Inverse Inference
We elaborate on the idea that loop corrections to belief propagation could be
dealt with in a systematic way on pairwise Markov random fields, by using the
elements of a cycle basis to define region in a generalized belief propagation
setting. The region graph is specified in such a way as to avoid dual loops as
much as possible, by discarding redundant Lagrange multipliers, in order to
facilitate the convergence, while avoiding instabilities associated to minimal
factor graph construction. We end up with a two-level algorithm, where a belief
propagation algorithm is run alternatively at the level of each cycle and at
the inter-region level. The inverse problem of finding the couplings of a
Markov random field from empirical covariances can be addressed region wise. It
turns out that this can be done efficiently in particular in the Ising context,
where fixed point equations can be derived along with a one-parameter log
likelihood function to minimize. Numerical experiments confirm the
effectiveness of these considerations both for the direct and inverse MRF
inference.Comment: 47 pages, 16 figure
Lower Bounds for Two-Sample Structural Change Detection in Ising and Gaussian Models
The change detection problem is to determine if the Markov network structures
of two Markov random fields differ from one another given two sets of samples
drawn from the respective underlying distributions. We study the trade-off
between the sample sizes and the reliability of change detection, measured as a
minimax risk, for the important cases of the Ising models and the Gaussian
Markov random fields restricted to the models which have network structures
with nodes and degree at most , and obtain information-theoretic lower
bounds for reliable change detection over these models. We show that for the
Ising model, samples are
required from each dataset to detect even the sparsest possible changes, and
that for the Gaussian, samples are
required from each dataset to detect change, where is the smallest
ratio of off-diagonal to diagonal terms in the precision matrices of the
distributions. These bounds are compared to the corresponding results in
structure learning, and closely match them under mild conditions on the model
parameters. Thus, our change detection bounds inherit partial tightness from
the structure learning schemes in previous literature, demonstrating that in
certain parameter regimes, the naive structure learning based approach to
change detection is minimax optimal up to constant factors.Comment: Presented at the 55th Annual Allerton Conference on Communication,
Control, and Computing, Oct. 201
Network Psychometrics
This chapter provides a general introduction of network modeling in
psychometrics. The chapter starts with an introduction to the statistical model
formulation of pairwise Markov random fields (PMRF), followed by an
introduction of the PMRF suitable for binary data: the Ising model. The Ising
model is a model used in ferromagnetism to explain phase transitions in a field
of particles. Following the description of the Ising model in statistical
physics, the chapter continues to show that the Ising model is closely related
to models used in psychometrics. The Ising model can be shown to be equivalent
to certain kinds of logistic regression models, loglinear models and
multi-dimensional item response theory (MIRT) models. The equivalence between
the Ising model and the MIRT model puts standard psychometrics in a new light
and leads to a strikingly different interpretation of well-known latent
variable models. The chapter gives an overview of methods that can be used to
estimate the Ising model, and concludes with a discussion on the interpretation
of latent variables given the equivalence between the Ising model and MIRT.Comment: In Irwing, P., Hughes, D., and Booth, T. (2018). The Wiley Handbook
of Psychometric Testing, 2 Volume Set: A Multidisciplinary Reference on
Survey, Scale and Test Development. New York: Wile
Critical behavior and synchronization of discrete stochastic phase coupled oscillators
Synchronization of stochastic phase-coupled oscillators is known to occur but
difficult to characterize because sufficiently complete analytic work is not
yet within our reach, and thorough numerical description usually defies all
resources. We present a discrete model that is sufficiently simple to be
characterized in meaningful detail. In the mean field limit, the model exhibits
a supercritical Hopf bifurcation and global oscillatory behavior as coupling
crosses a critical value. When coupling between units is strictly local, the
model undergoes a continuous phase transition which we characterize numerically
using finite-size scaling analysis. In particular, we explicitly rule out
multistability and show that that the onset of global synchrony is marked by
signatures of the XY universality class. Our numerical results cover dimensions
d=2, 3, 4, and 5 and lead to the appropriate XY classical exponents \beta and
\nu, a lower critical dimension d_{lc} = 2, and an upper critical dimension
d_{uc}=4
- …