A note on the applied use of MDL approximations.
An applied problem is discussed in which two nested psychological mod-els of retention are compared using minimum description length (MDL).The standard Fisher information approximation to the normalized maximum likelihood is calculated for these two models, with the result that the full model is assigned a smaller complexity, even for moderately large samples. A geometric interpretation for this behavior is considered, along with its practical implications.
Navarro
Daniel J
DJ
Department of Psychology, Ohio State Univeristy, Columbus, OH 43210, USA. navarro.20@osu.edu
D003627:Data Interpretation, Statistical; D006801:Humans; D016013:Likelihood Functions; D008606:Mental Processes / Q000502:physiology*; D008960:Models, Psychological; D012153:Retention, Psychology / Q000502:physiology*