The Fixed-Point Algorithm and Maximum Likelihood Estimation for Independent Component Analysis

Aapo Hyvärinen

Abstract: The author previously introduced a fast fixed-point algorithm for independent component analysis. The algorithm was derived from objective functions motivated by projection pursuit. In this paper, it is shown that the algorithm is closely connected to maximum likelihood estimation as well. The basic fixed-point algorithm maximizes the likelihood under the constraint of decorrelation, if the score function is used as the nonlinearity. Modifications of the algorithm maximize the likelihood without constraints.