Nurturing Promotes the Evolution of Generalized Supervised Learning

The ability to learn makes intelligent systems more adaptive. One approach to the development of learning algorithms is to evolve them using evolutionary algorithms. The evolution of learning is interesting as a practical matter because harnessing it may allow us to develop better artificial intelligence; it is also interesting from a theoretical perspective of understanding how the sophisticated learning seen in nature could have arisen. A potential obstacle to the evolution of learning when alternative behavioral strategies (e.g., instincts) can evolve is that learning individuals tend to exhibit ineffective behavior before effective behavior is learned. Nurturing, defined as one individual investing in the development of another individual with which it has an ongoing relationship, is often seen in nature in species that exhibit sophisticated learning behavior. It is hypothesized that nurturing may be able to increase the competitiveness of learning in an evolutionary environment by ameliorating the consequences of incorrect initial behavior. Here we expand upon a foundational work in the evolution of learning to also enable the evolution of instincts and then examine the strategies evolved with and without a nurturing condition in which individuals are not penalized for mistakes made during a learning period. It is found that nurturing promotes the evolution of generalized supervised learning in these environments.