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A stochastic optimality theory of preparedness and plasticity
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 04 February 2010
Abstract
Many now consider “instinct” and “learning” opposite poles of a unidimensional continuum. An alternative model with two independently varying parameters predicts different selective pressures. Behavioral adaptation matches the organism's utilizations of stimuli and responses to their ecological validities: the mean validity over evolutionary time specifies the optimal initial potency of the prepared association; the variance specifies the optimal prepared plasticity.
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- Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1995
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