<s>
In	O
statistical	O
theory	O
,	O
a	O
pseudolikelihood	B-General_Concept
is	O
an	O
approximation	O
to	O
the	O
joint	O
probability	O
distribution	O
of	O
a	O
collection	O
of	O
random	O
variables	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
pseudolikelihood	B-General_Concept
approach	O
was	O
introduced	O
by	O
Julian	O
Besag	O
in	O
the	O
context	O
of	O
analysing	O
data	O
having	O
spatial	O
dependence	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
One	O
use	O
of	O
the	O
pseudolikelihood	B-General_Concept
measure	O
is	O
as	O
an	O
approximation	O
for	O
inference	O
about	O
a	O
Markov	O
or	O
Bayesian	O
network	O
,	O
as	O
the	O
pseudolikelihood	B-General_Concept
of	O
an	O
assignment	O
to	O
may	O
often	O
be	O
computed	O
more	O
efficiently	O
than	O
the	O
likelihood	O
,	O
particularly	O
when	O
the	O
latter	O
may	O
require	O
marginalization	O
over	O
a	O
large	O
number	O
of	O
variables	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Use	O
of	O
the	O
pseudolikelihood	B-General_Concept
in	O
place	O
of	O
the	O
true	O
likelihood	O
function	O
in	O
a	O
maximum	O
likelihood	O
analysis	O
can	O
lead	O
to	O
good	O
estimates	O
,	O
but	O
a	O
straightforward	O
application	O
of	O
the	O
usual	O
likelihood	O
techniques	O
to	O
derive	O
information	O
about	O
estimation	O
uncertainty	O
,	O
or	O
for	O
significance	B-General_Concept
testing	I-General_Concept
,	O
would	O
in	O
general	O
be	O
incorrect	O
.	O
</s>
