EPIAL - An Epigenetic Approach for an Artificial Life Model

Jorge Sousa, Ernesto Costa

2010

Abstract

Neo-Darwinist concepts have always been questioned and, nowadays, one of the sources of debate is epigenetic theory. Epigenetics study the relation between phenotypes and their environment, and the way this relation can regulate the genetic expression, while producing traits that can be inherited by offspring. This work presents an Artificial Life model designed with epigenetic concepts of regulation and inheritance. A platform was developed, in order to study the evolutionary significance of the epigenetic phenomena, both at individual and population levels. Differences were observed in the evolutionary behavior of populations, regarding the epigenetic variants. Agents without epigenetic structures display difficulties thriving in dynamic environments, while epigenetic based agents are able to achieve regulation. It is also possible to observe the persistence of acquired traits during evolution, despite the absence of the signal that induces those same traits.

Paper Citation

in Harvard Style

Sousa J. and Costa E. (2010). EPIAL - An Epigenetic Approach for an Artificial Life Model . In Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Agents and Artificial Intelligence - Volume 1: ICAART, ISBN 978-989-674-021-4, pages 90-97. DOI: 10.5220/0002732500900097

in Bibtex Style

@conference{icaart10,
author={Jorge Sousa and Ernesto Costa},
title={EPIAL - An Epigenetic Approach for an Artificial Life Model},
booktitle={Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Agents and Artificial Intelligence - Volume 1: ICAART,},
year={2010},
pages={90-97},
publisher={SciTePress},
organization={INSTICC},
doi={10.5220/0002732500900097},
isbn={978-989-674-021-4},
}

in EndNote Style

TY - CONF
JO - Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Agents and Artificial Intelligence - Volume 1: ICAART,
TI - EPIAL - An Epigenetic Approach for an Artificial Life Model
SN - 978-989-674-021-4
AU - Sousa J.
AU - Costa E.
PY - 2010
SP - 90
EP - 97
DO - 10.5220/0002732500900097