TR announcement: 'Learning & evolution in neural networks'

[Jeff Elman]

         Learning and Evolution in Neural Networks

                             by

                       Stefano Nolfi
                      Jeffrey L. Elman
                      Domenico Parisi

                   CRL-TR-9019, July 1990
              Center for Research in Language
            University of California, San Diego
                  La Jolla, CA 92093-0126

                         ABSTRACT
In this report we present the results of a series of simula-
tions in which neural networks undergo change as a result of
two forces: learning during the "lifetime" of a network, and
evolutionary change over the course of several "generations"
of  networks.  The  results  demonstrate  how  complex   and
apparently  purposeful behavior can arise from random varia-
tion in networks. We believe that these  results  provide  a
good  starting basis for modeling the more complex phenomena
observed in biological systems. A more specific problem  for
which our results may be relevant is determining the role of
behavior in evolution (Plotkin, 1988); that is, how learning
at  the  individual level can have an influence on evolution
at the population level  within  a  strictly  Darwinian--not
Lamarckian--framework.

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Copies of this technical report may be requested  by  email,
by  sending a letter to crl at amos.ucsd.edu and requesting TR-
9019.