0000000000751236
AUTHOR
Richard Walker
'Niche Selection' and the evolution of a complex behavior in a changing environment--a simulation.
One of the key problems in theoretical biology is the identification of the mechanisms underlying the evolution of complexity. This paper suggests that some difficulties in current models could be avoided by taking account of “niche selection” as proposed by Waddington [21] and subsequent authors [2]. Computer simulations, in which an evolving population of artificial organisms “selects” the niche(s) that maximize their fitness, are compared with a Control Model in which “Niche Selection” is absent. In the simulations the Niche Selection Model consistently produced a greater number of “fit” organisms than the Control Model; although the Niche Selection Model tended, in general, to produce o…
Replicating Experiments in “Detour Behavior” with Artificially Evolved Robots: An A-Life Approach to Comparative Psychology
To be useful in psychology "artificial organisms" have to perform tasks comparable to those performed by animals. One way to achieve this is to rephcate actual animal experiments. Here we reproduce an experiment showing "detour behavior" in chicks - a behavior usually explained in terms of "cognitive maps" or other forms of internal representation. We artificially evolve software-simulated robots with a "generic" ability to detour. Sensor-motor physics are carefully calibrated with data from a physical robot. Robot architecture is constrained to exclude internal representation. The evolutionary process rewards exploratory skills as well as detour behavior. Robot performance matches the resu…
Decision Making in Evolving Artificial Systems
The theme of this workshop is artificial perception. In this chapter we will argue that the ecological function of perception is to serve decision-making. If this is so the mechanisms chosen to implement perception, in natural or artificial systems, will be constrained by the requirements of decision-making and theories of decision-making will inevitably influence theories of perception. In what follows we will look at decision-making from what we hope is a new perspective, applying concepts and techniques developed by what we will call “new artificial intelligence”. We will begin, in the second part of the chapter, with a review of traditional, “normative” theories of decision-making and o…