TY  - GEN
ID  - cogprints2025
UR  - http://cogprints.org/2025/
A1  - Cangelosi, Angelo
A1  - Parisi, Domenico
A1  - Nolfi, Stefano
TI  - Cell division and migration in a 'genotype' for neural networks
Y1  - 1994///
N2  - Much research has been dedicated recently to applying genetic algorithms to populations of
neural networks. However, while in real organisms the inherited genotype maps in complex
ways into the resulting phenotype, in most of this research the development process that
creates the individual phenotype is ignored. In this paper we present a model of neural
development which includes cell division and cell migration in addition to axonal growth and
branching. This reflects, in a very simplified way, what happens in the ontogeny of real
organisms. The development process of our artificial organisms shows successive phases of
functional differentiation and specialization. In addition, we find that mutations that affect
different phases of development have very different evolutionary consequences. A single
change in the early stages of cell division/migration can have huge effects on the phenotype
while changes in later stages have usually a less drammatic impact. Sometimes changes that
affect the first developental stages may be retained producing sudden changes in evolutionary
history.
AV  - public
KW  - neural networks
KW  -  artificial life
KW  -  genotype-phenotype mapping
KW  -  modularity
KW  -  neural development
ER  -

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