On the current status of the evolutionary theory of behavior dynamics

Abstract

The evolutionary theory of behavior dynamics is a complexity theory that instantiates the Darwinian principles of selection, reproduction, and mutation in a genetic algorithm. The algorithm is used to animate artificial organisms that behave continuously in time and can be placed in any experimental environment. The present paper is an update on the status of the theory. It includes a summary of the evidence supporting the theory, a list of the theory's untested predictions, and a discussion of how the algorithmic operations of the theory may correspond to material reality. Based on the evidence reviewed here, the evolutionary theory appears to be a strong candidate for a comprehensive theory of adaptive behavior.

An implementation of punishment in the evolutionary theory of behavior dynamics

“…McDowell, Soto, Dallery, and Kulubekova () extended the theory to incorporate stimulus control by combining it with Mazur's () hyperbolic delay theory of conditioned reinforcement, and the Rescorla‐Wagner theory of associative learning (Danks, ; Sutton & Barto, ). An early test of this extension (Berg, ) produced promising results, but additional testing is necessary (McDowell, ). The theoretical work on punishment presented in this article is a second extension of the theory.…”

“…As noted earlier, the evidence supporting the evolutionary theory is extensive, and was recently summarized by McDowell (2019). The theory accounts for a wide range of dynamic and steady-state phenomena in single-and multi-alternative environments.…”

“…McDowell () described the evolutionary theory in detail. Recently, McDowell () provided a more accessible summary, and identified predictions of the theory that have not yet been tested. Briefly, the evolutionary theory implements Darwinian processes of selection, reproduction, and mutation by means of a genetic algorithm that causes a population of potential behaviors to evolve under the selection pressure of consequences from the environment.…”

“…The ETBD is a complexity theory (McDowell, ) that instantiates the idea that behavior evolves in ontogenetic time under the selection pressure of consequences from the environment. The ETBD has been shown to account for a wide range of qualitative and quantitative, dynamic and steady‐state, phenomena that have been observed in experiments with live organisms (McDowell, ). The theory organizes and explains these phenomena by asserting that all are a consequence of evolutionary dynamics.…”

All Behavior is choice: Revisiting an evolutionary theory's account of behavior on single schedules

“…Notwithstanding its empirical success, the evolutionary theory may seem only tenuously connected to material reality, inasmuch as behaviors are not integers, they do not mate, produce offspring, or mutate. But ways to understand the theory's connection to the material world, including the interesting ontological perspective that has been referred to as supervenient realism (McDowell, 2017a) have been discussed in detail (e.g., McDowell, 2013cMcDowell, , 2019.…”