An introduction to genetic algorithms
An introduction to genetic algorithms
Adaptive individuals in evolving populations
Evolutionary Robotics: The Biology,Intelligence,and Technology
Evolutionary Robotics: The Biology,Intelligence,and Technology
The Puzzle of the Persistent Question Marks: A Case Study of Genetic Drift
Proceedings of the 5th International Conference on Genetic Algorithms
Stability and task complexity: a neural network model of evolution and learning
ICAL 2003 Proceedings of the eighth international conference on Artificial life
Evolution of Birdsong Syntax by Interjection Communication
Artificial Life
Artificial Life
How does niche construction reverse the Baldwin effect?
ECAL'07 Proceedings of the 9th European conference on Advances in artificial life
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Deacon has recently proposed that complexes of genes can be integrated into functional groups as a result of environmental changes that mask and unmask selection pressures. For example, many animals endogenously synthesize ascorbic acid (vitamin C), but anthropoid primates have only a nonfunctional version of the crucial gene for this pathway. It is hypothesized that the loss of functionality occurred in the evolutionary past when a diet rich in vitamin C masked the effect of the gene, and its loss effectively trapped the animals in a fruit-eating lifestyle. As a result, the complex of abilities that support this lifestyle were evolutionarily bound together, forming a multilocus complex. In this study we use evolutionary computation simulations to explore the thesis that masking and unmasking can transfer dependence from one set of genes to many sets, and thereby integrate the whole complex of genes. We used a framework based on Hinton and Nowlan's 1987 simulation of the Baldwin effect. Additional gene complexes and an environmental parameter were added to their basic model, and the fitness function extended. The simulation clearly demonstrates that the genetic redistribution effect can occur in silico, showing an initial advantage of endogenously synthesized vitamin C, followed by transfer of the fitness contribution to the complex of genes that together allow the acquisition of vitamin C from the environment. As is well known in the modeling community, the Baldwin effect only occurs in simulations when the population of agents is ''poised on the brink'' of discovering the genetically specified solution. Similarly, the redistribution effect occurs in simulations under specific initial conditions: too little vitamin C in the environment, and its synthesis it is never fully masked; too much vitamin C, and the abilities required to acquire it are not tightly integrated. The Baldwin effect has been hypothesized as a potential mechanism for developing language-specific adaptations like innate universal grammar and other highly modular capacities. We conclude with a discussion of the relevance of genetic assimilation and genetic redistribution to the evolution of language and other cognitive adaptations.