Kernel Measures of Conditional Dependence

Abstract

We propose a new measure of conditional dependence of random variables, based on normalized cross-covariance operators on reproducing kernel Hilbert spaces.\nUnlike previous kernel dependence measures, the proposed criterion does not depend on the choice of kernel in the limit of infinite data, for a wide class of kernels.\nAt the same time, it has a straightforward empirical estimate with good convergence behaviour. We discuss the theoretical properties of the measure, and demonstrate its application in experiments.