English
Related papers

Related papers: Opaque prior distributions in Bayesian latent vari…

200 papers

Bayesian deep learning approaches assume model parameters to be latent random variables and infer posterior distributions to quantify uncertainty, increase safety and trust, and prevent overconfident and unpredictable behavior. However,…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2023-07-13 Jihao Andreas Lin , Joe Watson , Pascal Klink , Jan Peters

A central challenge in statistical inference is the presence of confounding variables that may distort observed associations between treatment and outcome. Conventional "causal" methods, grounded in assumptions such as ignorability, exclude…

Methodology · Statistics 2025-09-09 Ellis Scharfenaker , Duncan K. Foley

Being able to reliably assess not only the \emph{accuracy} but also the \emph{uncertainty} of models' predictions is an important endeavour in modern machine learning. Even if the model generating the data and labels is known, computing the…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2023-09-12 Lucas Clarté , Bruno Loureiro , Florent Krzakala , Lenka Zdeborová

Counterfactual explanations utilize feature perturbations to analyze the outcome of an original decision and recommend an actionable recourse. We argue that it is beneficial to provide several alternative explanations rather than a single…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2023-01-24 Natraj Raman , Daniele Magazzeni , Sameena Shah

Selection bias arises when the probability that an observation enters a dataset depends on variables related to the quantities of interest, leading to systematic distortions in estimation and uncertainty quantification. For example, in…

We study high-dimensional Bayesian linear regression with product priors. Using the nascent theory of non-linear large deviations (Chatterjee and Dembo,2016), we derive sufficient conditions for the leading-order correctness of the naive…

Statistics Theory · Mathematics 2021-04-27 Sumit Mukherjee , Subhabrata Sen

We consider the problem of sampling from a product-of-experts-type model that encompasses many standard prior and posterior distributions commonly found in Bayesian imaging. We show that this model can be easily lifted into a novel latent…

Image and Video Processing · Electrical Eng. & Systems 2026-04-16 Muhamed Kuric , Martin Zach , Andreas Habring , Michael Unser , Thomas Pock

Linear mixed effects models are widely used in statistical modelling. We consider a mixed effects model with Bayesian variable selection in the random effects using spike-and-slab priors and developed a variational Bayes inference scheme…

Methodology · Statistics 2024-08-15 M-Z. Spyropoulou , J. Hopker , J. E. Griffin

Although discrete mixture modeling has formed the backbone of the literature on Bayesian density estimation, there are some well known disadvantages. We propose an alternative class of priors based on random nonlinear functions of a uniform…

Statistics Theory · Mathematics 2015-03-19 Suprateek Kundu , David B. Dunson

This expository paper discusses Bayesian decision analysis perspectives on problems of constrained forecasting. Foundational and pedagogic discussion contrasts decision analytic approaches with the traditional, but typically inappropriate,…

Methodology · Statistics 2021-12-01 Mike West

One of the goals of probabilistic inference is to decide whether an empirically observed distribution is compatible with a candidate Bayesian network. However, Bayesian networks with hidden variables give rise to highly non-trivial…

Machine Learning · Statistics 2014-10-14 R. Chaves , L. Luft , T. O. Maciel , D. Gross , D. Janzing , B. Schölkopf

We look at the distribution of the Bayesian evidence for mock realizations of supernova and baryon acoustic oscillation data. The ratios of Bayesian evidences of different models are often used to perform model selection. The significance…

Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics · Physics 2022-07-20 Ryan E. Keeley , Arman Shafieloo

In a given problem, the Bayesian statistical paradigm requires the specification of a prior distribution that quantifies relevant information about the unknowns of main interest external to the data. In cases where little such information…

Statistics Theory · Mathematics 2017-10-11 Alexander Terenin , David Draper

Bayesian hypothesis testing is re-examined from the perspective of an a priori assessment of the test statistic distribution under the alternative. By assessing the distribution of an observable test statistic, rather than prior parameter…

Statistics Theory · Mathematics 2018-08-28 Hedibert F. Lopes , Nicholas G. Polson

Consider the Gaussian sequence model under the additional assumption that a fixed fraction of the means is known. We study the problem of variance estimation from a frequentist Bayesian perspective. The maximum likelihood estimator (MLE)…

Statistics Theory · Mathematics 2019-12-19 Gianluca Finocchio , Johannes Schmidt-Hieber

We consider the problem of online learning in the presence of distribution shifts that occur at an unknown rate and of unknown intensity. We derive a new Bayesian online inference approach to simultaneously infer these distribution shifts…

Machine Learning · Statistics 2021-10-28 Aodong Li , Alex Boyd , Padhraic Smyth , Stephan Mandt

There is a bias in the inference pipeline of most diffusion models. This bias arises from a signal leak whose distribution deviates from the noise distribution, creating a discrepancy between training and inference processes. We demonstrate…

Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition · Computer Science 2023-10-25 Martin Nicolas Everaert , Athanasios Fitsios , Marco Bocchio , Sami Arpa , Sabine Süsstrunk , Radhakrishna Achanta

Sample selection models are a widely used approach for correcting bias caused by data that are missing not at random. Their formulation requires specifying the variables that influence the outcome and those that drive the selection process.…

Computation · Statistics 2026-03-25 Adam J. Iqbal , Emmanuel O. Ogundimu , F. Javier Rubio

From a systems biology perspective the majority of cancer models, although interesting and providing a qualitative explanation of some problems, have a major disadvantage in that they usually miss a genuine connection with experimental…

Statistics Theory · Mathematics 2023-05-25 Zuzanna Szymańska , Jakub Skrzeczkowski , Błażej Miasojedow , Piotr Gwiazda

Prior specification for nonparametric Bayesian inference involves the difficult task of quantifying prior knowledge about a parameter of high, often infinite, dimension. Realistically, a statistician is unlikely to have informed opinions…

Methodology · Statistics 2012-05-01 David C. Kessler , Peter D. Hoff , David B. Dunson