Abstract Intermittency is ubiquitous in animal
behavior. We depict a coordination problem that is part
of the more general structure of intermittent
adaptation: the adjustment-deployment dilemma. It
captures the intricate compromise between the time
spent in adjusting a response and the time used to
deploy it: The adjustment process improves fitness with
time, but during deployment fitness of the solution
decays as environmental conditions change. We provide a
formal characterization of the dilemma, and solve it
using computational methods. We find that the optimal
solution always results in a high intermittency between
adjustment and deployment around a non-maximal fitness
value. Furthermore we show that this non-maximal
fitness value is directly determined by the ratio
between the exponential coefficient of the fitness
increase during adjustment and that of its decay
coefficient during deployment. We compare the model
results with experimental data obtained from
observation and measurement of intermittent behavior in
animals. Among other phenomena, the model is able to
predict the uneven distribution of average duration of
search and motion phases found among various species
such as fishes, birds, and lizards. Despite the
complexity of the problem, it can be shown to be solved
by relatively simple mechanisms. We find that a model
of a single continuous-time recurrent neuron, with the
same parametric configuration, is capable of solving
the dilemma for a wide set of conditions. We finally
hypothesize that many of the different patterns of
intermittent behavior found in nature might respond to
optimal solutions of complexified versions of the
adjustment-deployment dilemma under different
constraints.
%0 Journal Article
%1 aguilera-intermittent-adjustment-deployment-2014
%A Aguilera, Miguel
%A Bedia, Manuel G.
%A Seron, Francisco
%A Barandiaran, Xabier E.
%D 2014
%I MIT Press - Journals
%J Artificial Life
%K alife intermittent
%N 4
%P 471--489
%R 10.1162/artl_a_00133
%T Intermittent Animal Behavior: The
Adjustment-Deployment Dilemma
%U http://dx.doi.org/10.1162/ARTL_a_00133
%V 20
%X Abstract Intermittency is ubiquitous in animal
behavior. We depict a coordination problem that is part
of the more general structure of intermittent
adaptation: the adjustment-deployment dilemma. It
captures the intricate compromise between the time
spent in adjusting a response and the time used to
deploy it: The adjustment process improves fitness with
time, but during deployment fitness of the solution
decays as environmental conditions change. We provide a
formal characterization of the dilemma, and solve it
using computational methods. We find that the optimal
solution always results in a high intermittency between
adjustment and deployment around a non-maximal fitness
value. Furthermore we show that this non-maximal
fitness value is directly determined by the ratio
between the exponential coefficient of the fitness
increase during adjustment and that of its decay
coefficient during deployment. We compare the model
results with experimental data obtained from
observation and measurement of intermittent behavior in
animals. Among other phenomena, the model is able to
predict the uneven distribution of average duration of
search and motion phases found among various species
such as fishes, birds, and lizards. Despite the
complexity of the problem, it can be shown to be solved
by relatively simple mechanisms. We find that a model
of a single continuous-time recurrent neuron, with the
same parametric configuration, is capable of solving
the dilemma for a wide set of conditions. We finally
hypothesize that many of the different patterns of
intermittent behavior found in nature might respond to
optimal solutions of complexified versions of the
adjustment-deployment dilemma under different
constraints.
@article{aguilera-intermittent-adjustment-deployment-2014,
abstract = {Abstract Intermittency is ubiquitous in animal
behavior. We depict a coordination problem that is part
of the more general structure of intermittent
adaptation: the adjustment-deployment dilemma. It
captures the intricate compromise between the time
spent in adjusting a response and the time used to
deploy it: The adjustment process improves fitness with
time, but during deployment fitness of the solution
decays as environmental conditions change. We provide a
formal characterization of the dilemma, and solve it
using computational methods. We find that the optimal
solution always results in a high intermittency between
adjustment and deployment around a non-maximal fitness
value. Furthermore we show that this non-maximal
fitness value is directly determined by the ratio
between the exponential coefficient of the fitness
increase during adjustment and that of its decay
coefficient during deployment. We compare the model
results with experimental data obtained from
observation and measurement of intermittent behavior in
animals. Among other phenomena, the model is able to
predict the uneven distribution of average duration of
search and motion phases found among various species
such as fishes, birds, and lizards. Despite the
complexity of the problem, it can be shown to be solved
by relatively simple mechanisms. We find that a model
of a single continuous-time recurrent neuron, with the
same parametric configuration, is capable of solving
the dilemma for a wide set of conditions. We finally
hypothesize that many of the different patterns of
intermittent behavior found in nature might respond to
optimal solutions of complexified versions of the
adjustment-deployment dilemma under different
constraints.},
added-at = {2015-02-02T12:10:38.000+0100},
author = {Aguilera, Miguel and Bedia, Manuel G. and Seron, Francisco and Barandiaran, Xabier E.},
biburl = {https://www.bibsonomy.org/bibtex/24fd2c2c56ebb2c15ab652fbca2ec7fc8/mhwombat},
doi = {10.1162/artl_a_00133},
interhash = {157038ec2b924591504c5e6a85bed5ea},
intrahash = {4fd2c2c56ebb2c15ab652fbca2ec7fc8},
journal = {Artificial Life},
keywords = {alife intermittent},
month = oct,
number = 4,
pages = {471--489},
publisher = {{MIT} Press - Journals},
timestamp = {2016-07-12T19:25:30.000+0200},
title = {Intermittent Animal Behavior: The
Adjustment-Deployment Dilemma},
url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1162/ARTL_a_00133},
volume = 20,
year = 2014
}