mpt_from_string: Create an MPT model from an MPTinR-style model string
In bmm: Easy and Accessible Bayesian Measurement Models Using 'brms'

mpt_from_string

R Documentation

Create an MPT model from an MPTinR-style model string

Description

Reads a model definition in the "easy" format of MPTinR model files and returns the corresponding mpt() model object; EQN files (multiTree, MPTinR, TreeBUGS) are read by mpt_from_eqn(). Each line is one branch probability expression; blank lines separate trees. The response category of each line is given either by an inline comment (expression # category) or by the categories argument. Lines that terminate in the same response category are summed.

Usage

mpt_from_string(
  text,
  restrictions = NULL,
  tree_names,
  categories = NULL,
  tree_id = NULL,
  covariates = NULL,
  simplex = NULL,
  links = "logit",
  impossible = NULL
)

Arguments

`text`	Character. The model definition, either as a single string or as a vector of lines (e.g., from `readLines()`).
`restrictions`	Parameter restrictions as in `mpt()`, written with the parameter names of the model text, e.g. `"g = 0.5"` or `list(g = 0.5)`. They mirror the `restrictions` argument of MPTinR and TreeBUGS. Restriction files are not read: pass their lines (see Examples).
`tree_names`	Character vector with one name per tree block. The names are matched to the blocks by position: the first name goes to the first block, and so on. bmm cannot check this order, so names given in a different order than the blocks import a different model without an error. For multi-tree models the names must match the values of the tree identifier column in the data.
`categories`	The response categories of lines without an inline `⁠# category⁠` comment, matched to the lines of a tree by position: the i-th entry is the category of the i-th line. Either a list by tree, `⁠list(<tree> = c("<category>", ...))⁠`, with one vector per tree that has such lines, or one unnamed character vector shared by all trees. A tree's vector in the list must not be longer than the tree. A shared vector must not be longer than the longest tree; a shorter tree takes its leading entries, which suits trees that lack the last categories (see `impossible`). If the trees use different categories, as in the pair-clustering model, use the list. Either form needs an entry for every line without an inline comment; an inline `⁠# category⁠` comment takes precedence over the entry for its line.
`tree_id`	Character. Name of the data column whose values name the tree each observation belongs to (see `mpt()`). Add this column to the data yourself: for each row it holds the name, as given in `tree_names`, of the tree the counts come from.
`covariates`, `simplex`, `links`	passed to `mpt()`. `print(model)` lists the symbols that became parameters.
`impossible`	A named list with the response categories that cannot occur in a tree, one element per such tree: `⁠list(<tree> = c("<category>", ...))⁠` (see the `impossible` argument of `mpt_tree()`). Trees and categories are named as in the returned model, i.e. by `tree_names` and by the category labels of the lines. Trees that are not listed have no impossible categories.

Details

Comments. A line whose first non-blank character is ⁠#⁠ is a comment and is skipped. It does not separate trees; only blank lines do. On a line with an expression, the text after ⁠#⁠ is the response category of that line. This differs from MPTinR, which ignores everything after a ⁠#⁠ and treats a line that starts with ⁠#⁠ as a blank line, so that there comment lines can separate trees. An MPTinR model file whose trees are separated only by comment lines, or whose inline comments are not category labels, has to be edited before it is imported.

Trees with different response categories. In bmm all trees share the same response categories. If a category cannot occur in some trees (e.g., the pair and singleton trees of the pair-clustering model), declare it with the impossible argument. If the trees only label the same responses differently, give those lines the same category label.

Names. Parameter names are used as written in the model text and are case-sensitive, so the formulas passed to bmm() name them the same way (bmf(D ~ 1); bmf() is short for bmmformula()). They must be valid bmm names (letters and digits, see mpt()); unlike mpt_from_eqn(), this function does not rename them. The import fails when the branches of a tree do not sum to 1 at numeric test values.

Data for an imported model. The Details of mpt_from_eqn() describe the layout bmm() expects (one row per participant and tree, a tree column, one count column per response category, 0 for impossible categories) and the checks to run before fitting; they apply to models from this function as well, with the tree names of tree_names and the category labels of the lines. The data MPTinR fits to a model file in this format are wide and positional: one row per participant (or one vector for aggregated counts) and one unnamed column per line of the model file, in file order, because each line is one response category. (For EQN files MPTinR sorts the columns instead; see mpt_from_eqn().) Name the columns ⁠<tree>.<category>⁠; mpt_data_reshape() then stacks the trees and gives 0 to the categories a tree cannot produce (see Examples).

Provenance. The returned model carries an mpt_source attribute, list(text = ), with the model definition as one string.

Value

An object of class bmmodel (see mpt()), with an mpt_source attribute holding the imported text.

Examples

model_2htm <- "
# two-high-threshold model
D + (1 - D) * g        # old
(1 - D) * (1 - g)      # new

(1 - D) * g            # old
D + (1 - D) * (1 - g)  # new
"
model <- mpt_from_string(
  model_2htm,
  tree_names = c("target", "lure"),
  tree_id = "item_type"
)
model

# fix the guessing rate as in MPTinR / TreeBUGS
mpt_from_string(
  model_2htm,
  tree_names = c("target", "lure"),
  tree_id = "item_type",
  restrictions = "g = 0.5"
)

# pair clustering, written as in MPTinR without category labels: pairs and
# singletons have different response categories
model_pc <- "
c * r
(1 - c) * u * u
2 * (1 - c) * u * (1 - u)
c * (1 - r) + (1 - c) * (1 - u) * (1 - u)

u
1 - u
"
mpt_from_string(
  model_pc,
  tree_names = c("pairs", "singles"),
  categories = list(
    pairs = c("E1", "E2", "E3", "E4"),
    singles = c("F1", "F2")
  ),
  tree_id = "item_type",
  impossible = list(pairs = c("F1", "F2"), singles = c("E1", "E2", "E3", "E4"))
)

# an MPTinR model file read with readLines() keeps the blank lines that
# separate the trees. A restrictions file is not read by bmm: drop its
# comments and blank lines and pass the remaining lines.
model_file <- tempfile(fileext = ".model")
writeLines(model_2htm, model_file)
restr_file <- tempfile(fileext = ".restr")
writeLines(c("# fix the guessing rate", "g = 0.5"), restr_file)
restr <- trimws(sub("#.*", "", readLines(restr_file)))
model <- mpt_from_string(
  readLines(model_file),
  tree_names = c("target", "lure"),
  tree_id = "item_type",
  restrictions = restr[nzchar(restr)]
)

# MPTinR data: one unnamed column per line of the model file, in file
# order. Name the columns by tree and category, then let mpt_data_reshape()
# stack the trees to get bmm's one row per participant and tree.
wide <- rbind(c(30, 10, 8, 32), c(25, 15, 12, 28))
colnames(wide) <- c("target.old", "target.new", "lure.old", "lure.new")
long <- mpt_data_reshape(wide, model)
long
# the row sums are the trials per row (40 here), but they cannot show
# swapped columns or tree labels: compare one participant with the wide
# row, then run the data checks (bmm_data_check() prints
# "Hard checks: passed" when the columns, tree labels and counts fit)
rowSums(long[c("old", "new")])
long[long$id == 1, ]
wide[1, ]
bmm_data_check(bmf(D ~ 1), long, model)

bmm documentation built on Oct. 16, 2026, 9:08 a.m.