--- title: "TreeBUGS: Introduction to Hierarchical MPT Modeling" author: "Daniel W. Heck, Nina R. Arnold, & Denis Arnold" date: "`r Sys.Date()`" number_section: true output: rmarkdown::html_vignette vignette: > %\VignetteIndexEntry{TreeBUGS: Introduction to Hierarchical MPT Modeling} %\VignetteEngine{knitr::rmarkdown} \usepackage[utf8]{inputenc} --- ## General Procedure of Using TreeBUGS In the most simple scenario, the following steps are required: 1. Define path to existing MPT model file in .eqn format (cf. multiTree; Moshagen, 2010) 2. Define path to data set with individual frequencies (.csv file: comma separated, rows=persons, columns=labeled categories) 3. Call one of the fitting functions `betaMPT` or `traitMPT` (examples below) 4. Check convergence of MCMC chains 5. Summarize and plot results In the following, these steps are explained in more detail. Note that TreeBUGS requires a recent version of the software JAGS (https://mcmc-jags.sourceforge.io/). ### 1. Step: MPT model file in EQN syntax The model needs to be passed in the standard .eqn file format (e.g., as in multiTree; Moshagen, 2010). As an example, consider the most simple two-high-threshold model (2HTM), each line defines a single processing path containing tree label, category label, and model equations: ``` #####Title: 2HTM Target Hit Do Target Hit (1-Do)*g Target Miss (1-Do)*(1-g) Lure FA (1-Dn)*g Lure CR (1-Dn)*(1-g) Lure CR Dn ``` Note that category labels (e.g., hit, miss,...) must start with a letter (different to multiTree or HMMTree) and match the column names of \code{data}. The model equations require the multiplication sign `*` and parameters should not be summarized, e.g., by `a^2*(1-a)`. As an input for TreeBUGS, the model file (e.g., `"2htm.txt"`) needs to be saved in the current working directory. Otherwise, the relative or absolute path to the file must be specified (e.g., `models/2htm.txt`). To check how TreeBUGS interprets a given .eqn-file, use: ```{r, eval=F} readEQN( file = "pathToFile.eqn", # relative or absolute path restrictions = list("Dn=Do"), # equality constraints paramOrder = TRUE ) # show parameter order ``` Equality restrictions on the MPT parameters can either be provided in a list: ```{r, eval=FALSE} restrictions <- list("Dn=Do", "g=0.5") ``` or by a path to a text file on the hard drive (e.g., `restrictions="pathToFile.txt"`) that contains the equality constraints, one per row: ``` Dn=Do g=0.5 ``` ### 2. Step: Data Set with Individual Frequencies Data can be loaded from a comma-separated text file (.csv) in the following format: ``` Hit, Miss, FA, CR 20, 10, 5, 25 13, 7, 9, 21 15, 5, 6, 14 ..... ``` Note that the first line contains the category labels, which must match the category labels from the .eqn-file. The remaining rows contain individual frequencies. Similarly as for the .eqn file, the path to the data file can either be specified as `data_ind.csv` if it is in the current working directory, or as an relative or absolute path (e.g., `"C:/models/data_ind.csv"`). When using TreeBUGS within R, a data.frame or matrix with appropriate column names that match the category labels can be provided. ### 3. Step: Fit Hierarchical MPT Model An hierarchical **Beta-MPT model** is fitted with the following code: ```{r, eval=FALSE} # load the package: library(TreeBUGS) # fit the model: fitHierarchicalMPT <- betaMPT( eqnfile = "2htm.txt", # .eqn file data = "data_ind.csv", # individual data restrictions = list("Dn=Do"), # parameter restrictions (or path to file) ### optional MCMC input: n.iter = 20000, # number of iterations n.burnin = 5000, # number of burnin samples that are removed n.thin = 5, # thinning rate of removing samples n.chains = 3 # number of MCMC chains (run in parallel) ) ``` A latent-trait model is fitted similarly by replacing `betaMPT` by `traitMPT`. ### 4. Step: Check convergence of MCMC chains The functions `betaMPT` and `traitMPT` return a list that includes the original samples from the MCMC sampler for convergence checks. The MCMC samples are stored in `fittedModel$runjags$mcmc` as an `mcmc.list` object (see the package \link{coda} for an overview of convergence diagniostics). TreeBUGS provides a handy wrapper to access the most important plotting functions: ```{r, eval=FALSE} # Default: Traceplot and density plot(fitHierarchicalMPT, # fitted model parameter = "mean" # which parameter to plot ) # further arguments are passed to ?plot.mcmc.list # Auto-correlation plots: plot(fitHierarchicalMPT, parameter = "mean", type = "acf") # Gelman-Rubin plots: plot(fitHierarchicalMPT, parameter = "mean", type = "gelman") ``` See \link{coda} and \link{runjags} for further convergence statistics and plots. Note that inferences from the model can be invalid if the Markov-Chain Monte-Carlo (MCMC) sampler did not converge! ### 5. Step: Summarize and Plot Results TreeBUGS produces an MPT-tailored summary of parameter estimates and convergence statistics: * Information about the parameter posterior distribution: Mean, SD, Median, 2.5% and 97.5% quantiles * Convergence: $\hat R$-Statistic (should be close to 1.00 for all parameters, e.g., $\hat R < 1.05$) and number of effective samples when accounting for auto-correlation (should be large) To obtain the summary after fitting the model, simply use: ```{r, eval=FALSE} summary(fitHierarchicalMPT) ``` The following functions allow to plot parameter estimates, distributions, goodness of fit, and raw frequencies: ```{r, eval=FALSE} plotParam(fitHierarchicalMPT, # estimated parameters includeIndividual = TRUE # whether to plot individual estimates ) plotDistribution(fitHierarchicalMPT) # estimated hierarchical parameter distribution plotFit(fitHierarchicalMPT) # observed vs. predicted mean frequencies plotFit(fitHierarchicalMPT, stat = "cov") # observed vs. predicted covariance plotFreq(fitHierarchicalMPT) # individual and mean raw frequencies per tree plotPriorPost(fitHierarchicalMPT) # comparison of prior/posterior (group level parameters) ``` Parameter estimates (posterior mean, median, SD) can be extracted and saved to a file by using: ```{r, eval=FALSE} # matrix for further use within R: tt <- getParam(fitHierarchicalMPT, parameter = "theta", stat = "mean" ) tt # save complete summary of individual estimates to file: getParam(fitHierarchicalMPT, parameter = "theta", stat = "summary", file = "parameter.csv" ) ``` ## References * Erdfelder, E., Auer, T.-S., Hilbig, B. E., Assfalg, A., Moshagen, M., & Nadarevic, L. (2009). Multinomial processing tree models: A review of the literature. Journal of Psychology, 217, 108–124. https://doi.org/10.1027/0044-3409.217.3.108 * Heck, D. W., & Wagenmakers, E. J. (2016). Adjusted priors for Bayes factors involving reparameterized order constraints. Journal of Mathematical Psychology, 73, 110–116. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmp.2016.05.004 * Klauer, K. C. (2010). Hierarchical multinomial processing tree models: A latent-trait approach. Psychometrika, 75, 70–98. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11336-009-9141-0 * Matzke, D., Dolan, C. V., Batchelder, W. H., & Wagenmakers, E.-J. (2015). Bayesian estimation of multinomial processing tree models with heterogeneity in participants and items. Psychometrika, 80, 205–235. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11336-013-9374-9 * Moshagen, M. (2010). multiTree: A computer program for the analysis of multinomial processing tree models. Behavior Research Methods, 42, 42–54. https://doi.org/10.3758/BRM.42.1.42 * Smith, J. B., & Batchelder, W. H. (2010). Beta-MPT: Multinomial processing tree models for addressing individual differences. Journal of Mathematical Psychology, 54, 167–183. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmp.2009.06.007