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Dissociation of the Confounding Influences of Expectancy and Integrative Difficulty Residing in Anomalous Sentences in Event-related Potential Studies

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Likelihood and Inconsistency.

James S Farris¹

¹Molekylärsystematiska laboratoriet, Naturhistoriska riksmuseet, Box 50007, S-104 05, Stockholm, Sweden.

Cladistics : the International Journal of the Willi Hennig Society

|December 14, 2021

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Maximum likelihood methods for phylogenetic trees can be inconsistent in complex scenarios, challenging long-held assumptions. Parsimony methods may be more reliable under realistic conditions, requiring a re-evaluation of existing arguments.

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Area of Science:

Phylogenetic inference
Computational evolutionary biology

Background:

Parsimony and maximum likelihood are common methods for constructing phylogenetic trees.
Likelihoodists have traditionally argued against parsimony due to perceived inconsistencies.

Discussion:

Recent statistical research indicates maximum likelihood estimation can be inconsistent in non-trivial cases.
This challenges the assumption of maximum likelihood's reliability in realistic phylogenetic analyses.

Key Insights:

The consistency of maximum likelihood is not guaranteed under realistic conditions.
Arguments against parsimony based on likelihood's consistency may no longer be valid.

Outlook:

Further research is needed to explore the conditions under which different phylogenetic methods are consistent.
A re-evaluation of the theoretical underpinnings for phylogenetic inference methods is warranted.