priors_default: Show default priors for a tulpa family

In tulpa: Templated Unified Library for Posterior Approximation in Bayesian Hierarchical Models

Show default priors for a tulpa family

Description

Display the default tulpa_priors() specification: the priors the simulation tools (prior_predict(), tulpa_simulate()) draw from, and a starting point for customizing them. tulpa() does not read a tulpa_priors object; the no-family printout closes with the defaults a tulpa() fit does use, which differ for the random-effect SDs (see tulpa_priors()).

Usage

priors_default(family = NULL, spatial = FALSE, temporal = FALSE)

Arguments

family	NULL (default) for the general printout, or a tulpa_family object – a model package's family constructor, such as a tulpaRatio ratio family, or one built with tulpa_family() – for the parameters that family carries. A family NAME ("poisson") is not a tulpa_family and is refused; the built-in family_names() share the general printout.
spatial	Logical; if TRUE, include spatial priors. Default FALSE.
temporal	Logical; if TRUE, include temporal priors. Default FALSE.

Details

The family-specific overdispersion lines name the ratio families a model package registers (negbin_negbin, negbin_gamma, poisson_gamma, gamma_gamma, beta_binomial); they are not among tulpa's own family_names().

Default priors in tulpa_priors() follow these principles:

• Fixed effects (beta): Normal(0, 2.5) - weakly informative, allows coefficients roughly in [-5, 5] on the link scale.

• Random effect SD (sigma): PC prior with P(sigma > 1) = 0.01 - favors simpler models with smaller variance components.

• Overdispersion (phi): PC prior with P(phi > 10) = 0.01 on the NB2 size phi (larger phi is less overdispersion; phi -> Inf is the Poisson limit). The default keeps phi finite, allowing overdispersion while penalising extreme values.

• Temporal correlation (rho): Beta(2, 2) - symmetric prior centered at 0.5, appropriate for AR(1) correlation.

• Spatial mixing (rho_spatial): Beta(1, 1) = Uniform(0, 1) - no prior preference for structured vs. unstructured spatial variation.

Value

Invisibly returns a tulpa_priors object with the defaults. Primarily called for its side effect of printing.

See Also

tulpa_priors() for creating custom priors

Examples

# Defaults for all families (no family argument)
priors_default()

# Family-specific defaults take a tulpa_family object. Model packages
# (e.g. tulpaRatio) register rich families; a minimal one is enough here.
fam <- tulpa_family(
  name = "poisson_gamma",
  simulate_fn = function(eta, params, n_obs, ...) rpois(n_obs, exp(eta[[1]]))
)
priors_default(fam)

# Including spatial parameters
priors_default(fam, spatial = TRUE)

# Use as a starting point for customization
my_priors <- priors_default(fam)
my_priors$beta <- prior_normal(0, 1)  # Tighter prior on fixed effects

tulpa documentation built on Oct. 19, 2026, 5:09 p.m.