English

How consistent is my model with the data? Information-Theoretic Model Check

Machine Learning 2017-12-20 v2 Machine Learning Signal Processing Methodology

Abstract

The choice of model class is fundamental in statistical learning and system identification, no matter whether the class is derived from physical principles or is a generic black-box. We develop a method to evaluate the specified model class by assessing its capability of reproducing data that is similar to the observed data record. This model check is based on the information-theoretic properties of models viewed as data generators and is applicable to e.g. sequential data and nonlinear dynamical models. The method can be understood as a specific two-sided posterior predictive test. We apply the information-theoretic model check to both synthetic and real data and compare it with a classical whiteness test.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1712.02675,
  title  = {How consistent is my model with the data? Information-Theoretic Model Check},
  author = {Andreas Svensson and Dave Zachariah and Thomas B. Schön},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1712.02675},
  year   = {2017}
}

Comments

The title has been updated, but no other significant changes have been made from the previous version

R2 v1 2026-06-22T23:11:12.629Z