creators_name: Leijnen, Stefan 
creators_name: Gabora, Liane
creators_id: stefanleijnen@gmail.com
creators_id: liane.gabora@ubc.ca
type: journalp
datestamp: 2010-01-30 03:40:56
lastmod: 2011-03-11 08:57:35
metadata_visibility: show
title: How Creative Should Creators be to Optimize the Evolution of Ideas? A Computer Model
ispublished: pub
subjects: comp-sci-mach-dynam-sys
subjects: comp-sci-neural-nets
subjects: socsim
full_text_status: public
keywords: agent-based simulation, creativity, cultural diversity, cultural evolution, EVOC, invention, social simulation
abstract: There are both benefits and drawbacks to creativity. In a social group it is not necessary for all members to be creative to benefit from creativity; some merely imitate or enjoy the fruits of others' creative efforts. What proportion should be creative? This paper outlines investigations of this question carried out using a computer model of cultural evolution referred to as EVOC (for EVOlution of Culture). EVOC is composed of neural network based agents that evolve fitter ideas for actions by (1) inventing new ideas through modification of existing ones, and (2) imitating neighbors' ideas. The ideal proportion with respect to fitness of ideas is found to depend on the level of creativity of the creative agents. For all levels or creativity, the diversity of ideas in a population is positively correlated with the ratio of creative agents.
date: 2009
date_type: published
publication: Electronic Proceedings in Theoretical Computer Science
volume: 9
pagerange: 108-119
refereed: TRUE
referencetext: \bibitem{AG05a}
D.~Aerts and L.~Gabora (2005a):
\newblock \emph{A state-context-property model of concepts and their combinations I: The structure of the sets of contexts and properties}.
\newblock {\sl Kybernetes} 34(1\&2),
 pp. 151--175.

\bibitem{AG05b}
D.~Aerts and L.~Gabora (2005b):
\newblock \emph{A state-context-property model of concepts and their combinations II: A Hilbert space representation}.
\newblock {\sl Kybernetes} 34(1\&2),
 pp. 176--205.

\bibitem{A87}
N.C.~Anderson (1987):
\newblock \emph{Creativity and mental illness; prevalence rates in writers and their first degree relatives}.
\newblock {\sl American Journal of Psychiatry} 144,
 pp. 1288--1292.

\bibitem{B99}
M.~Best (1999):
\newblock \emph{How culture can guide evolution: An inquiry into gene/meme enhancement and opposition}.
\newblock {\sl Adaptive Behavior} 7(3),
 pp. 289--293.

\bibitem{B06}
M.~Best (2006):
\newblock \emph{Adaptive value within natural language discourse}.
\newblock {\sl Interaction Studies} 7(1),
 pp. 1--15.

\bibitem{BS98}
J.L.~Boone and E.A.~Smith (1998):
\newblock \emph{Is it evolution yet? A critique of evolutionary archaeology}.
\newblock {\sl Current Anthropology} 39,
 pp. S141--73.

\bibitem{F05}
A.W.~Flaherty (2005):
\newblock \emph{Frontotemporal and dopaminergic control of idea generation and creative drive}.
\newblock {\sl Journal of Comparative Neurology} 493,
 pp. 147--153.

\bibitem{FL99}
J.~Fracchia and R.C.~Lewontin (2005):
\newblock \emph{Does culture evolve?}.
\newblock {\sl History and Theory} 38(4),
 pp. 52--78.

\bibitem{G95}
L.~Gabora (1995):
\newblock \emph{Meme and Variations: A computer model of cultural evolution}.
\newblock {\sl In L. Nadel \& D. Stein (Eds.) 1993 Lectures in Complex Systems} Addison-Wesley, Reading MA,
 pp. 471--486.

\bibitem{G04}
L.~Gabora (2004):
\newblock \emph{Ideas are not replicators but minds are}.
\newblock {\sl Biology \& Philosophy} 19(1),
 pp. 127--143.

\bibitem{G06}
L.~Gabora (2006):
\newblock \emph{The fate of evolutionary archaeology: Survival or extinction?}.
\newblock {\sl World Archaeology} 38(4),
 pp. 690--696.

\bibitem{G08a}
L.~Gabora (2008a):
\newblock \emph{The cultural evolution of socially situated cognition}.
\newblock {\sl Cognitive Systems Research} 9(1-2),
 pp. 104--113.

\bibitem{G08b}
L.~Gabora (2008b):
\newblock \emph{EVOC: A computer model of cultural evolution}.
\newblock {\sl in V. Sloutsky, B. Love \& K. McRae (Eds.), Proceedings of the 30th Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society (Washington DC, July 23-26, North Salt Lake, UT)} Sheridan Publishing.

\bibitem{G08c}
L.~Gabora (2008c):
\newblock \emph{Modeling cultural dynamics}.
\newblock {\sl in Proceedings of the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI) Fall Symposium 1: Adaptive Agents in a Cultural Context (Nov 7-9, The Westin Arlington Gateway, Arlington VA)} Menlo Park, CA: AAAI Press,
 pp. 18--25

\bibitem{GMP07}
O.~Gigliotta, O.~Miglino and D.~Parisi (2007):
\newblock \emph{Groups of agents with a leader}.
\newblock {\sl Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation} 10(4),
\newblock Available at \url{http://jasss.soc.surrey.ac.uk/10/4/1.html}.

\bibitem{GM}
D.~Gilbert and T.~Morgner:
\newblock \emph{JFreeChart}.
\newblock Available at \url{http://www.jfree.org/jfreechart/index.html}.

\bibitem{G88}
D.W.~Goodwin (1998):
\newblock \emph{Alcohol and the Writer}.
\newblock Penguin, New York.

\bibitem{G92}
D.W.~Goodwin (1992):
\newblock \emph{Alcohol as muse}.
\newblock {\sl American Journal of Psychotherapy} 46,
 pp. 422--433.

\bibitem{GJ90}
F.K.~Goodwin and R.~Jamison (1990):
\newblock \emph{Alcohol and drug abuse in manic-depressive illness}.
\newblock {\sl in: Goodwin, F. and Jamison, K., Eds. Manic-depressive illness} Oxford University Press, New York,
 pp. 210--226.

\bibitem{H00}
P.G.~Higgs (2000):
\newblock \emph{The mimetic transition: a simulation study of the evolution of learning by imitation}.
\newblock {\sl Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences} 267(1450),
 pp. 1355--1361.

\bibitem{H81}
G.E.~Hinton (1981):
\newblock \emph{Implementing semantic networks in parallel hardware}.
\newblock {\sl in Parallel Models of Associative Memory} Erlbaum Press, Hillsdale NJ.

\bibitem{HN87}
G.E.~Hinton and S.J.~Nowlan (1987):
\newblock \emph{How learning can guide evolution}.
\newblock {\sl Complex Systems} 1,
 pp. 495--502.

\bibitem{H75}
J.K.~Holland (1975):
\newblock \emph{Adaptation in Natural and Artificial Systems}.
\newblock University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor.

\bibitem{HH91}
E.~Hutchins and B.~Hazelhurst (1991):
\newblock \emph{Learning in the cultural crocess}.
\newblock {\sl in Langton, C., Taylor, J., Farmer, D., \& Rasmussen, S. (Eds.) Artificial Life II} Addison-Wesley, Redwood City, CA.

\bibitem{J89}
K.R.~Jamieson (1989):
\newblock \emph{Mood disorders and patterns of creativity in writers and artists}.
\newblock {\sl Psychiatry} 52,
 pp. 125--134.

\bibitem{J93}
K.R.~Jamieson (1993):
\newblock \emph{Touched by fire: Manic-depressive illness and the artistic temperament}.
\newblock Free Press, New York.

\bibitem{J00}
M.~Jeffreys (2000):
\newblock \emph{The meme metaphor}.
\newblock {\sl Perspectives in Biology and Medicine} 43(2),
 pp. 227--242.

\bibitem{K92}
A.~Karmiloff-Smith (1992):
\newblock \emph{Beyond Modularity: A Developmental Perspective on Cognitive Science}.
\newblock MIT Press, Cambridge MA.

\bibitem{K92}
J.C.~Kaufman and R.J.~Sternberg (Eds) (2006):
\newblock \emph{The International Handbook of Creativity}.
\newblock Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

\bibitem{KG04}
N.~Krasnogor and S.~Gustafson (2004):
\newblock \emph{A study on the use of "self-generation" in memetic algorithms}.
\newblock {\sl Natural Computing} 3(1),
 pp. 53--76.

\bibitem{L95}
A.M.~Ludwig (1995):
\newblock \emph{The Price of Greatness}.
\newblock Guilford Press, New York.

\bibitem{M}
P.~Marrone:
\newblock \emph{Java Object Oriented Neural Engine (JOONE)}.
\newblock Available at \url{http://www.jooneworld.com}.

\bibitem{NG96}
T.~Norlander and R.~Gustafson (1996):
\newblock \emph{Effects of alcohol on scientific thought during the incubation phase of the creative process}.
\newblock {\sl Journal of Creative Behavior} 30,
 pp. 231--248.

\bibitem{NG96}
T.~Norlander and R.~Gustafson (1996):
\newblock \emph{Effects of alcohol on picture drawing during the verification phase of the creative process}.
\newblock {\sl Creativity Research Journal} 10(4),
 pp. 355--362.

\bibitem{NG98}
T.~Norlander and R.~Gustafson (1998):
\newblock \emph{Effects of alcohol on a divergent figural fluency test during the illumination phase of the creative process}.
\newblock {\sl Creativity Research Journal} 11,
 pp. 365--374.

\bibitem{R90}
A.~Rothenberg (1990):
\newblock \emph{Creativity, mental health, and alcoholism}.
\newblock {\sl Creativity Research Journal} 3,
 pp. 179--201.

\bibitem{SL95}
R.J.~Sternberg and T.I.~Lubart (1995):
\newblock \emph{Defying the Crowd: Cultivating Creativity in a Culture of Conformity}.
\newblock Free Press, New York.

\bibitem{S90}
W.~Styron (1990):
\newblock \emph{Darkness Visible: A Memoir of Madness}.
\newblock Random House, New York.

\bibitem{S96}
F.~Sulloway (1996):
\newblock \emph{Born to Rebel}.
\newblock Pantheon, New York.

\bibitem{W69}
S.~Wright (1969):
\newblock \emph{Evolution and the Genetics of Populations}.
\newblock University of Chicago Press, Chicago.
citation:   Leijnen, Stefan  and Gabora, Dr. Liane  (2009) How Creative Should Creators be to Optimize the Evolution of Ideas? A Computer Model.  [Journal (Paginated)]     
document_url: http://cogprints.org/6769/1/leijnen_gabora_eptcs09.pdf