Nonlinear Causal Discovery for Grouped Data

Fuente: arXiv
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Auteurs principaux: Göbler, Konstantin, Windisch, Tobias, Drton, Mathias
Format: Preprint
Publié: 2025
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author Göbler, Konstantin
Windisch, Tobias
Drton, Mathias
author_facet Göbler, Konstantin
Windisch, Tobias
Drton, Mathias
contents Inferring cause-effect relationships from observational data has gained significant attention in recent years, but most methods are limited to scalar random variables. In many important domains, including neuroscience, psychology, social science, and industrial manufacturing, the causal units of interest are groups of variables rather than individual scalar measurements. Motivated by these applications, we extend nonlinear additive noise models to handle random vectors, establishing a two-step approach for causal graph learning: First, infer the causal order among random vectors. Second, perform model selection to identify the best graph consistent with this order. We introduce effective and novel solutions for both steps in the vector case, demonstrating strong performance in simulations. Finally, we apply our method to real-world assembly line data with partial knowledge of causal ordering among variable groups.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2506_05120
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Nonlinear Causal Discovery for Grouped Data
Göbler, Konstantin
Windisch, Tobias
Drton, Mathias
Machine Learning
Methodology
Inferring cause-effect relationships from observational data has gained significant attention in recent years, but most methods are limited to scalar random variables. In many important domains, including neuroscience, psychology, social science, and industrial manufacturing, the causal units of interest are groups of variables rather than individual scalar measurements. Motivated by these applications, we extend nonlinear additive noise models to handle random vectors, establishing a two-step approach for causal graph learning: First, infer the causal order among random vectors. Second, perform model selection to identify the best graph consistent with this order. We introduce effective and novel solutions for both steps in the vector case, demonstrating strong performance in simulations. Finally, we apply our method to real-world assembly line data with partial knowledge of causal ordering among variable groups.
title Nonlinear Causal Discovery for Grouped Data
topic Machine Learning
Methodology
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.05120