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Longitudinal Modeling of Age-Dependent Latent Traits with Generalized Additive Latent and Mixed Models

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2025

Øystein Sørensen*
Affiliation:
University of Oslo
Anders M. Fjell
Affiliation:
University of Oslo Oslo University Hospital
Kristine B. Walhovd
Affiliation:
University of Oslo Oslo University Hospital
*
Correspondence should bemade to Øystein Sørensen, Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway. Email: oystein.sorensen@psykologi.uio.no
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Abstract

We present generalized additive latent and mixed models (GALAMMs) for analysis of clustered data with responses and latent variables depending smoothly on observed variables. A scalable maximum likelihood estimation algorithm is proposed, utilizing the Laplace approximation, sparse matrix computation, and automatic differentiation. Mixed response types, heteroscedasticity, and crossed random effects are naturally incorporated into the framework. The models developed were motivated by applications in cognitive neuroscience, and two case studies are presented. First, we show how GALAMMs can jointly model the complex lifespan trajectories of episodic memory, working memory, and speed/executive function, measured by the California Verbal Learning Test (CVLT), digit span tests, and Stroop tests, respectively. Next, we study the effect of socioeconomic status on brain structure, using data on education and income together with hippocampal volumes estimated by magnetic resonance imaging. By combining semiparametric estimation with latent variable modeling, GALAMMs allow a more realistic representation of how brain and cognition vary across the lifespan, while simultaneously estimating latent traits from measured items. Simulation experiments suggest that model estimates are accurate even with moderate sample sizes.

Information

Type
Theory & Methods
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made.
Copyright
Copyright © 2022 The Author(s) under exclusive licence to The Psychometric Society
Figure 0

Table 1. Key terms in mixed effects representation of linear predictor (7)

Figure 1

Table 2. Key terms in mixed effects representation of structural model (8)

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Figure 1. Cognitive test scores. Observed responses to the thirteen test scores used in Sect. 4.1, plotted versus age. Dots show individual responses, and gray lines connect multiple timepoints for the same participant.

Figure 3

Table 3. Estimates and standard errors of parametric terms in the model presented in Sect. 4.1.

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Table 4. Estimates of variance components in the model presented in Sect. 4.1.

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Figure 2. Estimated lifespan trajectories. Units on the y-axis are standard deviations of the underlying latent variable ηm\documentclass[12pt]{minimal}\usepackage{amsmath}\usepackage{wasysym}\usepackage{amsfonts}\usepackage{amssymb}\usepackage{amsbsy}\usepackage{mathrsfs}\usepackage{upgreek}\setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt}\begin{document}$$\eta _{m}$$\end{document}. Shaded regions are 95% pointwise confidence bands (inner) and 95% simultaneous confidence bands (outer).

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Figure 3. Empirical Bayes posteriors. Left: for each cognitive domain, 100 curves for the posterior are shown. Right: posterior densities of the age at which maximum level is attained for each domain.

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Figure 4. Bootstrap assessment of bias and standard errors. The top row shows true values plotted against the simulation averages, and the bottom row shows bootstrap standard error estimates plotted against the average standard errors across bootstrap samples. Outlying observations are labeled

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Figure 5. Simultaneous results. Left: All bootstrap samples of lower and upper simultaneous confidence bands plotted together with the true function in red, for ages between 7 and 15 years. Right: Proportion of ψ^m(2)\documentclass[12pt]{minimal}\usepackage{amsmath}\usepackage{wasysym}\usepackage{amsfonts}\usepackage{amssymb}\usepackage{amsbsy}\usepackage{mathrsfs}\usepackage{upgreek}\setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt}\begin{document}$${\hat{\psi }}_{m}^{(2)}$$\end{document} obtaining a nonzero estimate as the true value increases, for working memory (m = 2) and executive function (m=3\documentclass[12pt]{minimal}\usepackage{amsmath}\usepackage{wasysym}\usepackage{amsfonts}\usepackage{amssymb}\usepackage{amsbsy}\usepackage{mathrsfs}\usepackage{upgreek}\setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt}\begin{document}$$m=3$$\end{document}). The x-axis shows the ratio of level-2 variance to total level-2 and level-3 variance

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Figure 6. Hippocampal volume curves. Left: Total volumes of left and right hippocampus (in mm3\documentclass[12pt]{minimal}\usepackage{amsmath}\usepackage{wasysym}\usepackage{amsfonts}\usepackage{amssymb}\usepackage{amsbsy}\usepackage{mathrsfs}\usepackage{upgreek}\setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt}\begin{document}$$^{3}$$\end{document}) plotted versus age. Repeated observations of the same individual are connected with gray lines. Right: Estimated hippocampal volume trajectories at mean socioeconomic status (SES) and at two standard deviation above or below mean. Shaded regions show 95% pointwise confidence intervals for SES two standard deviations above or below mean.

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Table 5. Comparison of models for the effect of socioeconomic status on hippocampal volume

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Table 6. Parametric terms in model of hippocampal volume and socioeconomic status

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Figure 7. Interaction term in latent covariates model. Left: Probability of selecting a model containing an interaction term as a function of the magnitude of the interaction. ‘AIC’ denotes Akaike information criterion and ‘p<.05\documentclass[12pt]{minimal}\usepackage{amsmath}\usepackage{wasysym}\usepackage{amsfonts}\usepackage{amssymb}\usepackage{amsbsy}\usepackage{mathrsfs}\usepackage{upgreek}\setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt}\begin{document}$$p<.05$$\end{document}’ denotes selection based on testing λ8=0\documentclass[12pt]{minimal}\usepackage{amsmath}\usepackage{wasysym}\usepackage{amsfonts}\usepackage{amssymb}\usepackage{amsbsy}\usepackage{mathrsfs}\usepackage{upgreek}\setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt}\begin{document}$$\lambda _{8}=0$$\end{document} versus λ8>0\documentclass[12pt]{minimal}\usepackage{amsmath}\usepackage{wasysym}\usepackage{amsfonts}\usepackage{amssymb}\usepackage{amsbsy}\usepackage{mathrsfs}\usepackage{upgreek}\setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt}\begin{document}$$\lambda _{8}>0$$\end{document}. Error bars show 95% confidence intervals. The horizontal gray lines shows the p=0.05\documentclass[12pt]{minimal}\usepackage{amsmath}\usepackage{wasysym}\usepackage{amsfonts}\usepackage{amssymb}\usepackage{amsbsy}\usepackage{mathrsfs}\usepackage{upgreek}\setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt}\begin{document}$$p=0.05$$\end{document} level, for reference. Right: Violin-dotplots (Hintze & Nelson, 1998) of estimated interactions for different values of the true interaction. Gray line and black points indicate the true values, and colored points indicate estimates in single Monte Carlo samples. Values are based on 500 Monte Carlo samples for each parameter combination (Color figure online).

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Figure 8. Coverage of smooth terms in latent covariates model. Across-the-function coverage of pointwise confidence intervals (left) and coverage of simultaneous confidence intervals (right) for five levels of latent socioeconomic status η1\documentclass[12pt]{minimal}\usepackage{amsmath}\usepackage{wasysym}\usepackage{amsfonts}\usepackage{amssymb}\usepackage{amsbsy}\usepackage{mathrsfs}\usepackage{upgreek}\setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt}\begin{document}$$\varvec{\eta }_{1}$$\end{document}. Intervals were computed with model (e), which contained a non-zero interaction term λ8\documentclass[12pt]{minimal}\usepackage{amsmath}\usepackage{wasysym}\usepackage{amsfonts}\usepackage{amssymb}\usepackage{amsbsy}\usepackage{mathrsfs}\usepackage{upgreek}\setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt}\begin{document}$$\lambda _{8}$$\end{document}. Error bars show 95% confidence intervals for simulation estimates.

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