Smoothing parameter selection in two frameworks for penalized splines

There are two popular smoothing parameter selection methods for spline smoothing. First, smoothing parameters can be estimated by minimizing criteria that approximate the average mean-squared error of the regression function estimator. Second, the maximum likelihood paradigm can be employed, under the assumption that the regression function is a realization of some stochastic process. The asymptotic properties of both smoothing parameter estimators for penalized splines are studied and compared. A simulation study and a real data example illustrate the theoretical findings.