Enhances interpretability of linear latent spaces through automated clustering and ranking.
problem Severe interpretability issues in latent directions of PCA, ICA, CCA, and FA.
method LS-PIE framework automates clustering and ranking of latent vectors.
result Enhanced interpretability of latent vectors through LR, LS, LC, and LCON.
Paper proposes RCD method to discover causal structure with latent confounders.
problem Causal discovery from data with latent confounders.
method Repetitive causal discovery (RCD) method to infer causal directions between observed variables.
result RCD effectively identifies latent confounders and causal directions between observed variables.
Unsupervised method discovers interpretable directions in GAN latent space.
problem Discovering interpretable directions in GAN latent space without supervision.
method Model-agnostic procedure to identify directions corresponding to semantic manipulations.
result Findings include directions for background removal and competitive saliency detection performance.
We analyze the information-theoretic limits for the recovery of node labels in several network models. This includes the Stochastic Block Model, the Exponential Random Graph Model, the Latent Space Model, the Directed Preferential Attachment Model, and the Directed Small-world Model. For the Stochastic Block Model, the…
The discovery of causal relationships is a fundamental problem in science and medicine. In recent years, many elegant approaches to discovering causal relationships between two variables from observational data have been proposed. However, most of these deal only with purely directed causal relationships and cannot det…
Direct optimization of binary latent VAEs achieves competitive results without sampling.
problem Training VAEs with discrete latent variables using standard methods is challenging.
method Applied evolutionary algorithms to directly optimize discrete latent distributions.
result Direct optimization is efficient and competitive in zero-shot learning.
We consider learning the possible causal direction of two observed variables in the presence of latent confounding variables. Several existing methods have been shown to consistently estimate causal direction assuming linear or some type of nonlinear relationship and no latent confounders. However, the estimation resul…
A Bayesian treatment of latent directed graph structure for non-iid data is provided where each child datum is sampled with a directed conditional dependence on a single unknown parent datum. The latent graph structure is assumed to lie in the family of directed out-tree graphs which leads to efficient Bayesian inferen…
This paper generalizes graph representation for diverse data types.
problem Representing and querying hybrid data types in a unified way.
method Introducing a directed Tensor-Typed Multi-Graph with embeddings.
result Unified representation for visual, linguistic, and auditory data.
New model uncovers non-Euclidean neural representations.
problem Discovering latent neural states in complex, non-Euclidean spaces.
method Manifold GPLVM for identifying latent variables and neural contributions.
result mGPLVM correctly recovers non-Euclidean latent structures in neural data.
Study identifies parameters in causal models with latent confounding.
problem Parameter identification in linear non-Gaussian causal models with latent confounding.
method Graphical criterion for necessary and sufficient identifiability of direct causal effects, with polynomial-time algorithm.
result Developed a graphical criterion for identifying direct causal effects in latent variable models with arbitrary non-linear confounding.
We investigate probabilistic graphical models that allow for both cycles and latent variables. For this we introduce directed graphs with hyperedges (HEDGes), generalizing and combining both marginalized directed acyclic graphs (mDAGs) that can model latent (dependent) variables, and directed mixed graphs (DMGs) that c…
Neural networks learn faster with correlated latent variables.
problem Efficiently learning from higher-order correlations in neural networks.
method Analytical derivation and simulations of two-layer neural networks.
result Correlations between latent variables speed up learning from higher-order correlations.
Develops a method to identify causal effects in linear models with latent variables.
problem Identifying causal effects in models with latent variables that are not independent.
method A novel graphical criterion and an integer linear program algorithm.
result Sufficient condition for identifying causal effects by rational formulas in the covariance matrix.
Develops SCMs for latent selection to simplify causal analysis.
problem Latent selection complicates causal analysis.
method Introduces a conditioning operation for SCMs to encode latent selection.
result Conditioning operation preserves simplicity, acyclicity, and linearity of SCMs.
Proposes a new model for directed graphs combining deep learning and latent variable models.
problem Graph representation learning for directed graphs.
method Deep Latent Space Model (DLSM) integrating GCN encoder and stochastic decoder with hierarchical variational auto-encoder architecture.
result Achieves state-of-the-art performance on link prediction and community detection tasks.
CCHM algorithm learns BN structure with latent variables, improving causal effect measurement.
problem Latent variables cause spurious relationships in BN structure learning.
method Hybrid approach combining constraint-based and score-based learning, incorporating do-calculus.
result CCHM outperforms state-of-the-art in reconstructing true BN structure.
New method identifies causal direction with latent confounders.
problem Identifying causal direction in presence of multiple latent variables.
method Use of joint higher-order cumulant matrix properties.
result Causal asymmetry can be seen from rank deficiency properties of cumulant matrices.
Modified Wasserstein metric for Gaussian distributions, invariant to isometries.
problem Distance measurement for latent Gaussian distributions invariant to isometries.
method Modified Benamou-Brenier approach leading to a Procrustes Wasserstein metric.
result For Gaussian distributions, the metric reduces to Euclidean distance between eigenvalues.
The constraints arising from DAG models with latent variables can be naturally represented by means of acyclic directed mixed graphs (ADMGs). Such graphs contain directed and bidirected arrows, and contain no directed cycles. DAGs with latent variables imply independence constraints in the distribution resulting from a…
Reparameterization of variational auto-encoders with continuous random variables is an effective method for reducing the variance of their gradient estimates. In the discrete case, one can perform reparametrization using the Gumbel-Max trick, but the resulting objective relies on an argmax operation and is non-dif…
The paper optimizes hyperplanes for binary classification in high-dimensional data with latent Gaussian mixtures.
problem Binary classification in high-dimensional data with latent Gaussian mixtures.
method Generalized least squares estimator for estimating the direction of the optimal separating hyperplane. Simple correction for intercept estimation.
result The procedure is minimax optimal in many scenarios and can retain the interpolation property.
Paper distinguishes causal structures under latent confounding and selection bias.
problem Distinguishing causal relationships when latent variables and selection bias are present.
method Formulated selected-marginalized directed graphs (smDGs) to distinguish causal structures.
result Two causal structures are indistinguishable if they have the same selected-marginalized directed graph.
Direct approach for handling contextual bandits with latent state dynamics.
problem Handling contextual bandits with latent state dynamics, especially when rewards depend on posterior probabilities of hidden states.
method Direct reduction to standard linear contextual bandits, extended analysis of HMM parameters, periodic update of reward-model parameters.
result Periodic update of reward-model parameters allows handling complex dependencies in hidden states.
Paper proposes a new method to identify causal graphs with latent variables using higher-order cumulants.
problem Estimating causal directed acyclic graphs with latent confounders.
method Uses higher-order cumulants to identify causal structures among observed and latent variables.
result Validates the proposed algorithm through simulations and real-world data.
Model criticism is usually carried out by assessing if replicated data generated under the fitted model looks similar to the observed data, see e.g. Gelman, Carlin, Stern, and Rubin [2004, p. 165]. This paper presents a method for latent variable models by pulling back the data into the space of latent variables, and c…
New method recovers causal DAGs from general environments without strict assumptions.
problem Recovering causal DAGs from real-world data with varying distributions.
method Formalizes desiderata for causal representation learning in general environments, leveraging sufficient change conditions up to third-order derivatives.
result Fully recovers latent DAG and identifies latent variables up to minor indeterminacies under nonparametric mixing.
New method uses latent variables to estimate treatment effects from single-arm trials.
problem Estimating treatment effects from single-arm trials due to lack of external control groups.
method Latent-variable modeling with amortized variational inference for patient matching and direct effect estimation.
result Improved performance in direct treatment effect estimation and effect estimation via patient matching compared to previous methods.
A new model for time series using discrete latent states.
problem Efficiently modeling time series data with discrete latent states.
method A Markov chain-based model for training high-dimensional discrete latent data.
result Improved performance on time series datasets.
Unsupervised estimation of latent variable models is a fundamental problem central to numerous applications of machine learning and statistics. This work presents a principled approach for estimating broad classes of such models, including probabilistic topic models and latent linear Bayesian networks, using only secon…
A novel circuit motif uses sister cells for inference with correlated priors.
problem Structured priors in neural systems pose architectural challenges.
method Proposes a novel circuit motif using sister cells to implement correlated priors without direct interactions.
result Demonstrates the efficacy of correlated priors for inference in noisy environments.
Method evaluates disentanglement in DLVMs, including those not aligned with latent axes.
problem Evaluate disentanglement in DLVMs, especially those not aligned with latent axes.
method Proposes a statistical method to discover generative factors of a dataset.
result Empirically demonstrates the advantage of the method on two datasets.
We study the problem of learning the support of transition matrix between random processes in a Vector Autoregressive (VAR) model from samples when a subset of the processes are latent. It is well known that ignoring the effect of the latent processes may lead to very different estimates of the influences among observe…
Different directed acyclic graphs (DAGs) may be Markov equivalent in the sense that they entail the same conditional independence relations among the observed variables. Meek (1995) characterizes Markov equivalence classes for DAGs (with no latent variables) by presenting a set of orientation rules that can correctly i…
This work improves disentanglement in latent space models without sacrificing generation quality.
problem Trade-off between disentanglement and generation quality in latent space models.
method Manifold optimization with a sum of autoencoder and PCA reconstruction errors, on the Stiefel manifold.
result Improves disentanglement without sacrificing generation quality.
New autoencoder improves latent space learning by optimizing sliced Gromov-Wasserstein discrepancies.
problem Improving inner discrepancy between prior and posterior distributions in autoencoders.
method Proposed spherical sliced fused Gromov Wasserstein (SSFG) and variants (MSSFG, PSSFG) to find important directions.
result New autoencoders achieve favorable performance in latent manifold learning, image generation, and reconstruction.
UT module refines VAE latent space, improving disentanglement and interpretability.
problem Irregular latent distributions cause posterior collapse and misalignment in VAEs.
method UT module uses G-KDE clustering, GM modeling, and PIT to transform latent space into uniform distribution.
result UT module enhances disentanglement and interpretability of latent representations.
LSI enables joint learning of latent variables and generative models.
problem Joint optimization of latent variables and generative models.
method Developed a principled ELBO objective in continuous time for joint learning.
result LSI learns effective latent representations and generative transformations.
A semi-parametric, non-linear regression model in the presence of latent variables is applied towards learning network graph structure. These latent variables can correspond to unmodeled phenomena or unmeasured agents in a complex system of interacting entities. This formulation jointly estimates non-linearities in the…
New method controls generative models with continuous factors.
problem Lack of control over generative models and poor understanding of latent space.
method Introduces a method to find meaningful directions in latent space for precise control of generated images.
result Demonstrates effectiveness of method for GANs and variational auto-encoders.
This paper uses Factored Latent Analysis (FLA) to learn a factorized, segmental representation for observations of tracked objects over time. Factored Latent Analysis is latent class analysis in which the observation space is subdivided and each aspect of the original space is represented by a separate latent class mod…
New model learns multimodal data better than DAGs.
problem Complex multimodal data not well captured by DAGs.
method Latent partial causal model with two latent coupled variables.
result Identifiability result shows representations correspond to latent variables.
A new approach to unsupervised learning using recognition-parametrised models.
problem Discovering meaningful latent structure in observational data.
method Recognition-Parametrised Model (RPM) combining parametric and non-parametric components.
result Effective learning of latent structure without explicit generative models.
Spectral embedding of adjacency or Laplacian matrices of undirected graphs is a common technique for representing a network in a lower dimensional latent space, with optimal theoretical guarantees. The embedding can be used to estimate the community structure of the network, with strong consistency results in the stoch…
FoundCause: Causal Discovery with Latent Confounders from Observational Data
problem Causal discovery from observational data
method FoundCause, an amortized causal discovery model trained on synthetic data
result FoundCause outperforms classical and amortized methods on real-world datasets
We explore a new research direction in Bayesian variational inference with discrete latent variable priors where we exploit Kronecker matrix algebra for efficient and exact computations of the evidence lower bound (ELBO). The proposed "DIRECT" approach has several advantages over its predecessors; (i) it can exactly co…
The paper explores how invertibility affects the complexity of encoder models in VAEs.
problem The complexity of the encoder model in VAEs when the generative map is invertible.
method Formalizes the concept of strong invertibility and analyzes the complexity of the encoder model.
result Strongly invertible generative maps allow for simpler encoder models, while non-invertible maps require exponentially larger encoders.
Recent work in unsupervised representation learning has focused on learning deep directed latent-variable models. Fitting these models by maximizing the marginal likelihood or evidence is typically intractable, thus a common approximation is to maximize the evidence lower bound (ELBO) instead. However, maximum likeliho…