Baldwin effect

Abstract: The role of genetic inheritance dominates current evolutionary theory. At the end of the nineteenth century, however, several evolutionary theorists independently speculated that learned behaviors could also affect the direction and rate of evolutionary change. This notion was called the Baldwin effect, after the psychologist James Mark Baldwin. In recent years, philosophers and theorists of a variety of ontological and epistemological backgrounds have begun to employ the Baldwin effect in their accounts of the evolutionary emergence of mind and of how mind, through behavior, might affect evolution. The essays in this book discuss the originally proposed Baldwin effect, how it was modified over time, and its possible contribution to contemporary empirical and theoretical evolutionary studies. The topics include the effect of the modern evolutionary synthesis on the notion of the Baldwin effect, the nature and role of niche construction in contemporary evolutionary theory, the Baldwin effect in the context of developmental systems theory, the possible role of the Baldwin effect in computational cognitive science biosemiotics, and the emergence of consciousness and language.

Abstract: Characters individually acquired by members of a group of organisms may eventually, under the influence of selection, be reenforced or replaced by similar hereditary characters. That is the essence of the evolutionary phenomenon here called "the Baldwin effect." The possibility of such an effect was noted independently and almost simultaneously by J. M. Baldwin 1 (1896), Lloyd Morgan (1896), and H. F. Osborn (1896). Lloyd Morgan (e.g., 1900) and Osborn (e.g., 1897a and b) made occasional later references to the effect (or factor, principle, or hypothesis, as you will). Baldwin (especially 1902) followed it up in greater detail. E. B. Poulton early joined the discussion, as did several others in the period 1896-1905, approximately. That three workers independently thought of the Baldwin effect at the same time demonstrates that the idea was in the air, that it was an inevitable outgrowth of the intellectual atmosphere of the time. That time was at the height of the neo-Darwinian versus neo-Lamarckian controversy and shortly before the rediscovery of Mendelism gave a radically different turn to biological thought. There was a sharp

Abstract: A grammar tree is used to encode a cellular developmental process that can generate whole families of Boolean neural networks for computing parity and symmetry. The development process resembles biological cell division. A genetic algorithm is used to find a grammar tree that yields both architecture and weights specifying a particular neural network for solving specific Boolean functions. The current study particularly focuses on the addition of learning to the development process and the evolution of grammar trees. Three ways of adding learning to the development process are explored. Two of these exploit the Baldwin effect by changing the fitness landscape without using Lamarckian evolution. The third strategy is Lamarckian in nature. Results for these three modes of combining learning with genetic search are compared against genetic search without learning. Our results suggest that merely using learning to change the fitness landscape can be as effective as Lamarckian strategies at improving search.

Abstract: * Introduction R.K. Belew and M. Mitchell Biology * Overview * Adaptive Computation in Ecology and Evolution: A Guide to Future Research J. Roughgarden, A. Bergman, S. Shafir, and C. Taylor Reprinted Classics * The Classics in Their Context, and in Ours J. Schull * Of the Influence of the Environment on the Activities and Habits of Animals, and the Influence of the Activities and Habits of These Living Bodies in Modifying Their Organization and Structure J.B. Lamarck * A New Factor in Evolution J.M. Baldwin * On Modification and Variation C. Lloyd Morgan * Canalization of Development and the Inheritance of Acquired Characters C.H. Waddington * The Baldwin Effect G.G. Simpson * The Role of Somatic Change in Evolution G. Bateson New Work * A Model of Individual Adaptive Behavior in a Fluctuating Environment L. A. Zhivotovsky, A. Bergman, and M. W. Feldman * The Baldwin Effect in the Immune System: Learning by Somatic Hypermutation R. Hightower, S. Forrest, and A. S. Perelson * The Effect of Memory Length on Individual Fitness in a Lizard S. Shafir and J. Roughgarden * Latent Energy Environments F. Menczer and R. K. Belew Psychology * Overview * The Causes and Effects of Evolutionary Simulation in the Behavioral Sciences P.M. Todd Reprinted Classics * Excerpts from Principles of Biology H. Spencer * Excerpts from Principles of Psychology H. Spencer * William James and the Broader Implications of a Multilevel Selectionism J. Schull * Excerpts from The Phylogeny and Ontogeny of Behavior B.F. Skinner * Excerpts from Adaptation and Intelligence: Organic Selection and Phenocopy J. Piaget * Selective Costs and Benefits of in the Evolution of Learning T. D. Johnston New Work * Sexual Selection and the Evolution of Learning P. M. Todd * Discontinuity in Evolution: How Different Levels of Organization Imply Preadaptation O. Miglino, S. Nolfi, and D. Parisi * The Influence of Learning on Evolution D. Parisi and S. Nolfi Computer Science * Overview * Computation and the Natural Sciences R. K. Belew, M. Mitchell, and D. H. Ackley Reprinted Classics * How Learning Can Guide Evolution G. E. Hinton and S. J. Nowlan * Natural Selection: When Learning Guides Evolution J. Maynard Smith New Work * Simulations Combining Evolution and Learning M. L. Littman * Optimization with Genetic Algorithm Hybrids that Use Local Searches W. E. Hart and R. K. Belew