A Case Study of the De Novo Evolution of a Complex Odometric Behavior in Digital Organisms |
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| Authors: | Laura M Grabowski David M Bryson Fred C Dyer Robert T Pennock Charles Ofria |
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| Institution: | 1. Department of Computer Science, University of Texas-Pan American, Edinburg, Texas, United States of America.; 2. BEACON Center for the Study of Evolution in Action, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan, United States of America.; University of Sussex, United Kingdom, |
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| Abstract: | Investigating the evolution of animal behavior is difficult. The fossil record leaves few clues that would allow us to recapitulate the path that evolution took to build a complex behavior, and the large population sizes and long time scales required prevent us from re-evolving such behaviors in a laboratory setting. We present results of a study in which digital organisms–self-replicating computer programs that are subject to mutations and selection–evolved in different environments that required information about past experience for fitness-enhancing behavioral decisions. One population evolved a mechanism for step-counting, a surprisingly complex odometric behavior that was only indirectly related to enhancing fitness. We examine in detail the operation of the evolved mechanism and the evolutionary transitions that produced this striking example of a complex behavior. |
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