Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Editorial
. 2017 Jul 5;40(1):75-82.
doi: 10.1007/s40614-017-0094-9. eCollection 2017 Jun.

The Effect of Reinforcement, and the Roles of Mutation Rate and Selection Pressure, in an Evolutionary Theory of Behavior Dynamics

J J McDowell  1
Affiliations
Editorial

The Effect of Reinforcement, and the Roles of Mutation Rate and Selection Pressure, in an Evolutionary Theory of Behavior Dynamics

J J McDowell. Behav Anal. .
No abstract available

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of InterestThe author declares that he has no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
A series of screen captures from a computer program that implemented the evolutionary theory. The images show the population of potential behaviors after 0, 10, 20, 30, and 60 generations (or time ticks). Integer phenotypes ranging from 0 through 1023 are represented along the x-axes. The relative frequencies of the phenotypes in the population are plotted along the y-axes; note that these frequencies may equal zero. The vertical dashed line falls at phenotype 41. During the period of time shown in the figure, phenotypes 0 through 41 constituted a class of behaviors that defined a lever press. Lever presses (any emitted phenotype from 0 through 41) were reinforced on a random-interval schedule. The number of reinforcers delivered by the end of 0, 10, 20, 30, and 60 time ticks is shown on the right
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
One-parameter linear probability density functions that can be used to choose parents for mating following a selection event. Probability density is plotted against parental fitness in the figure. The area underneath each density function equals unity. Partial areas under the functions, bounded by specific fitness values on the x-axis, represent probabilities that parents in those fitness ranges will reproduce. Fitter parent behaviors tend to produce fitter child behaviors. Hence, the steeper the slope of the density function, the greater the selection pressure favoring fit child behaviors in the next generation
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Ballerini M, Cabibbo N, Candelier R, Cavagna A, Cisbani E, Giardina I, Lecomte V, Orlandi A, Parisi G, Procaccini A, Viale M, Zdravkovic V. Interaction ruling animal collective behavior depends on topological rather than metric distance: Evidence from a field study. Proc Natl Acad Sci. 2008;105:1232–1237. doi: 10.1073/pnas.0711437105. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Berg JP. Implementation of stimulus control in a computational model (unpublished doctoral dissertation) Atlanta: Emory University; 2011.
    1. Bunyard-Wild, P. (2013). Gretna green starling murmurations. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1Q-EbX6dso. Retrieved 1/8/2017.
    1. Cox B, Forshaw J. The quantum universe: Everything that can happen does happen. Boston: Da Capo Press; 2012.
    1. Edelman GM. Neural Darwinism: The theory of neuronal group selection. New York: Basic Books; 1987. - PubMed

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources