Towards Identifiable Latent Additive Noise Models

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Liu, Yuhang, Zhang, Zhen, Gong, Dong, Gao, Erdun, Huang, Biwei, Gong, Mingming, Hengel, Anton van den, Zhang, Kun, Shi, Javen Qinfeng
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
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author Liu, Yuhang
Zhang, Zhen
Gong, Dong
Gao, Erdun
Huang, Biwei
Gong, Mingming
Hengel, Anton van den
Zhang, Kun
Shi, Javen Qinfeng
author_facet Liu, Yuhang
Zhang, Zhen
Gong, Dong
Gao, Erdun
Huang, Biwei
Gong, Mingming
Hengel, Anton van den
Zhang, Kun
Shi, Javen Qinfeng
contents Causal representation learning (CRL) offers the promise of uncovering the underlying causal model by which observed data was generated, but the practical applicability of existing methods remains limited by the strong assumptions required for identifiability and by challenges in applying them to real-world settings. Most current approaches are applicable only to relatively restrictive model classes, such as linear or polynomial models, which limits their flexibility and robustness in practice. One promising approach to this problem seeks to address these issues by leveraging changes in causal influences among latent variables. In this vein we propose a more general and relaxed framework than typically applied, formulated by imposing constraints on the function classes applied. Within this framework, we establish partial identifiability results under weaker conditions, including scenarios where only a subset of causal influences change. We then extend our analysis to a broader class of latent post-nonlinear models. Building on these theoretical insights, we develop a flexible method for learning latent causal representations. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach on synthetic and semi-synthetic datasets, and further showcase its applicability in a case study on human motion analysis, a complex real-world domain that also highlights the potential to broaden the practical reach of identifiable CRL models.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2403_15711
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Towards Identifiable Latent Additive Noise Models
Liu, Yuhang
Zhang, Zhen
Gong, Dong
Gao, Erdun
Huang, Biwei
Gong, Mingming
Hengel, Anton van den
Zhang, Kun
Shi, Javen Qinfeng
Machine Learning
Methodology
Causal representation learning (CRL) offers the promise of uncovering the underlying causal model by which observed data was generated, but the practical applicability of existing methods remains limited by the strong assumptions required for identifiability and by challenges in applying them to real-world settings. Most current approaches are applicable only to relatively restrictive model classes, such as linear or polynomial models, which limits their flexibility and robustness in practice. One promising approach to this problem seeks to address these issues by leveraging changes in causal influences among latent variables. In this vein we propose a more general and relaxed framework than typically applied, formulated by imposing constraints on the function classes applied. Within this framework, we establish partial identifiability results under weaker conditions, including scenarios where only a subset of causal influences change. We then extend our analysis to a broader class of latent post-nonlinear models. Building on these theoretical insights, we develop a flexible method for learning latent causal representations. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach on synthetic and semi-synthetic datasets, and further showcase its applicability in a case study on human motion analysis, a complex real-world domain that also highlights the potential to broaden the practical reach of identifiable CRL models.
title Towards Identifiable Latent Additive Noise Models
topic Machine Learning
Methodology
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2403.15711