Summary: B2.7.2 NK Fitness Landscapes \Lambda
Lee Altenberg
Hawai`i Institute of Geophysics and Planetology, University of Hawai`i at Manoa,
Honolulu, HI U.S.A. Internet: altenber@mhpcc.edu
November 27, 1996
Abstract
NK fitness landscapes are stochastically generated fitness functions on bit
strings, parameterized (with N genes and K interactions between genes) so as to
make them tunably `rugged'. Under the `natural' genetic operators of bit­flipping
mutation or recombination, NK landscapes produce multiple domains of attrac­
tion for the evolutionary dynamics. NK landscapes have been used in models of
epistatic gene interactions, coevolution, genome growth, and Wright's shifting bal­
ance model of adaptation. Theory for adaptive walks on NK landscapes has been
derived, and generalizations that extend beyond Kauffman's original framework
have been utilized in these applications.
Keywords:
adaptive landscape, adaptive walk, coevolution, computational complexity, `edge of
chaos', epistasis, `House of Cards' model, multiple domains of attraction, pleiotropy,
random field, random number generators, `Red Queen' Hypothesis, representation
problem, self­organized criticality, shifting­balance model, spin glass

Source: Altenberg, Lee - Department of Information and Computer Science, University of Hawai'i at Manoa

Collections: Computer Technologies and Information Sciences