Research Program
My Ph.D. is from the Department of
Computer Sciences at
The University of Texas at Austin.
My dissertation,
Cultural Enhancement of Neuroevolution,
develops methods to exploit culture to speed up evolution.
(Also available as University of Texas, Computer Sciences
Technical Report AI02-295, August 2002, or
download via ftp.)
Dissertation Abstract
Any transmission of behavior from one generation to the next via
non-genetic means is a process of culture.
Culture provides major advantages for survival in the biological world.
This dissertation develops four methods that harness the mechanisms
of culture to enhance the power of neuroevolution:
culling overlarge litters,
mate selection by complementary competence,
phenotypic diversity maintenance, and
teaching offspring to respond like an elder.
The methods are efficient because they operate without requiring
additional fitness evaluations, and because each method addresses a
different aspect of neuroevolution, they also combine smoothly.
The combined system balances diversity and selection pressure, and
improves performance both in terms of learning speed and solution
quality in sequential decision tasks.
Further information
paulmcq@alumni.utexas.net
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