Learning and Evolution: Factors Influencing an Effective Combination

(1) Background: The mutual relationship between evolution and learning is a controversial argument among the artificial intelligence and neuro-evolution communities. After more than three decades, there is still no common agreement on the matter. (2) Methods: In this paper, the author investigates whether combining learning and evolution permits finding better solutions than those discovered by evolution alone. In further detail, the author presents a series of empirical studies that highlight some specific conditions determining the success of such combination. Results are obtained in five qualitatively different domains: (i) the 5-bit parity task, (ii) the double-pole balancing problem, (iii) the Rastrigin, Rosenbrock and Sphere optimization functions, (iv) a robot foraging task and (v) a social foraging problem. Moreover, the first three tasks represent benchmark problems in the field of evolutionary computation. (3) Results and discussion: The outcomes indicate that the effect of learning on evolution depends on the nature of the problem. Specifically, when the problem implies limited or absent agent–environment conditions, learning is beneficial for evolution, especially with the introduction of noise during the learning and selection processes. Conversely, when agents are embodied and actively interact with the environment, learning does not provide advantages, and the addition of noise is detrimental. Finally, the absence of stochasticity in the experienced conditions is paramount for the effectiveness of the combination. Furthermore, the length of the learning process must be fine-tuned based on the considered task.