pspGlobal {psp}R Documentation

Parameter Space Partitioning

Description

An all-purpose C++ implementation of the Parameter Space Partitioning MCMC Algorithm described by Pitt, Kim, Navarro, Myung (2006).

Usage

pspGlobal(model, discretize, control, save = FALSE, path = ".",
          extension = ".csv", quiet = FALSE)

Arguments

model

It should take a numeric vector (parameter set) as its argument, and return a numeric vector of continuous variables.

discretize

The inequality matrix constructor. It should take a numberic vector of probabilities. It must return a matrix in a matrix format with 'type=double'. NA values are note allowed, see Note 1.

control

A list() of control arguments that tunes the behaviour of the parameter space partitioning routine. See Details for more information on what to include.

save

if save = TRUE, all evaluated parameters will be saved to disk. The deafult is FALSE.

path

If 'save = TRUE', the path to the file that will store all evaluated parameters and continuous model outputs. The default path is the current working directory. Evaluated parameters and continuous model outputs are save separately, see Details.

extension

If 'save = TRUE', the extension of the file that will store all evaluated parameters and continuous model outputs. The default extension is .csv.

quiet

If FALSE (default), print the number of the current iteration. If TRUE, do not print anything.

Details

Overview:

This function implements the Parameter Space Partitioning algorithm desribed by Pitt et al. (2006). The brief overview of the algorithm is as follows:

0. Initialize parameter space.

0. Select first set of parameters, and evaluate the model on this set. Its ordinal output will become the first ordinal pattern and the first region in the parameter space.

1. Pick a random jumping distribution from for each ordinal pattern from the sampling region defined by a hypershere with a center of the last recorded parameter set for a given pattern. Clamp parameter values with their respective lower and upper bounds.

2. Evaluate model on all new parameter sets.

3. Record new patterns and their corresponding parameter sets. If the parameter sets returns an already discovered pattern, add parameter set to their records. Return to Step 1.

Tuning the behaviour of the algorithm via control:

This behaviour is further tuned by 'control', which needs to contain a list of the following values:

populationThe number of parameter sets in each ordinal region, which serves as a threshold above which pspGlobal will not generate a new jumping distribution for a given ordinal pattern. iterationsThe number of global iterations. It has to be an integer. If emphpopulation is not set or the regions have population less then the upper bound on their size, the function will stop after the set number of iterations. lower, upperVectors specifiying the lower and upper boundaries of the parameter space for each parameter. The i-th element of lower and upper bounds applies to the i-th parameter. initA marix of parameters to use as the first jumping distribution. Each row contains the parameter set, whereas columns correspond to freely varying paarameters of the model. radiusThe radius of the hypershere with n-dimensions to sample from. Must be of type double. If you are unsure what to set here, set it to 1. parameter_namesA character vector that includes the names of each parameter. The order of elements should correspond to the order of parameter columns in init. dimensionalityA single integer that specifies the number of dimensions for the inequality matrix. The inequality matrix is a strict upper triangular matrix. The number of rows and columns is equal to each other. responsesIt is an integer that specifies the number of continuous variables the model output before the ordinal function is applied. See Note 2.

Saving files to disk:

The evaluated parameter sets and their corresponding continuous model outputs are saved to disk if save = TRUE. The evaluated parameter sets are saved in a file with the name path_parameters and the extension specified, whereas continuous model outputs are saved in a file with the name path_continuous and the extension specified.

Value

The output is a list with the following items:

ordinal_patterns

A 3D array with the ordinal patterns found. The place of the ordinal pattern corresponds to ordinal_counts.

ordinal_counts

A table with the ordinal patterns discovered and the population of their corresponding region - the number of parameter sets discovered to produce the ordinal pattern.

iterations

Number of iterations completed before reaching set threshold.

Note

1. NA values are usually a result of some parameter combination falling outside of what the model implementation can handle. It is best handled outside of the PSP routine, e.g. during the inequality matrix construction. For example, if NA is detected in the matrix, change all values to 99 before returning the output. 2. Ideally, responses and dimensionality should be the same, but we can imagine a scenario where the dimensionality of the inequality matrix will be smaller than the number of responses. For example, when continuous variables compressed into a more compact format via clustering.

References

Dome, L. (n.d.) psp: an n-dimensional parameter space partitioning tool to explore model behaviour. Manuscript in preparation.

Dome, L., Wills, A. J. (n.d.) g-distance: Prediction, accommodation, and a priori likelihood in formal psychological theorizing. Manuscript in preparation.

Pitt, M. A., Kim, W., Navarro, D. J., & Myung, J. I. (2006). Global model analysis by parameter space partitioning. Psychological Review, 113(1), 57.

Weisstein, Eric W. "Hypersphere Point Picking." From MathWorld–A Wolfram Web Resource. https://mathworld.wolfram.com/HyperspherePointPicking.html


[Package psp version 1.0.0 Index]