Discovering Cyclic Causal Models with Latent Variables: A General SAT-Based Procedure
This work addresses the challenge of causal discovery in complex systems with cycles and hidden variables, which is incremental as it builds on constraint-based methods but extends them to more general settings.
The authors tackled the problem of learning causal models with feedback loops and latent variables from observational or experimental data, presenting a SAT-based procedure that is complete and generalizes many existing algorithms.
We present a very general approach to learning the structure of causal models based on d-separation constraints, obtained from any given set of overlapping passive observational or experimental data sets. The procedure allows for both directed cycles (feedback loops) and the presence of latent variables. Our approach is based on a logical representation of causal pathways, which permits the integration of quite general background knowledge, and inference is performed using a Boolean satisfiability (SAT) solver. The procedure is complete in that it exhausts the available information on whether any given edge can be determined to be present or absent, and returns "unknown" otherwise. Many existing constraint-based causal discovery algorithms can be seen as special cases, tailored to circumstances in which one or more restricting assumptions apply. Simulations illustrate the effect of these assumptions on discovery and how the present algorithm scales.