adaptive growth processes a strongmodelstrong inspired by pask’s ear.pdfVIP

Adaptive Growth Processes: A Model Inspired by Pask’s Ear Nathaniel Virgo and Inman Harvey University of Sussex, UK nathanielvirgo@ Abstract general principles behind the result, defining a general no- tion of an adaptive growth process. We back this up with a We introduce the notion of an “adaptive growth process” in simplified computational model of an adaptive growth pro- order to explain an experimental result from the 1950s in cess which, although it does not perform as impressive a task which a complex mechanism capable of distinguishing be- tween two sounds emerges from a homogeneous chemical so- as Pask’s ear, works in what we believe is a similar way. lution. We present a very simple computational model which Our system resembles a model of ants leaving pheromone exhibits an adaptive growth process. Adaptive growth pro- trails to reach a target, except that we do not selectively re- cesses could have practical applications in adaptive control inforce the trail of a successful ant. Instead the reward for systems and may also play a role in biological development. reaching the target is applied to the system as a whole, in keywords: self-organisation, complex systems, reinforce- the form of an increase in the rate at which ants enter the ment learning, Gordon Pask system. This stems from a difference in focus b