Exploring Adaptive Agency I: Theory and Methods for Simulating the Evolution of Learning

摘要: Psychology construed as the scientific study of adaptive agency can include not only modelling specific psychological adaptations in particular species, but general exploration processes (including evolution, learning, and computation) that build, modify, instantiate those adaptations. Connectionist theory has concentrated on understanding learning computation, assumed general-purpose principles prime constructors But connectionism thereby ignored central lesson a century psychology: mechanisms must be understood terms their functions, just like other This paper introduces notion psychology agency, outlines hierarchy underlying reviews history emergence ecological evolutionary approaches to learning. We then develop taxonomy functions might serve, outline simulation framework for exploring functions. Finally, we present empirical results concerning simulated evolution associative