The Baldwin Effect: Introduction
The Baldwin effect concerns the trade-offs (the costs and benefits)
of learning, in the context of evolution. The Baldwin effect should
be of interest to:
In 1896, James Mark Baldwin proposed that individual learning can
explain evolutionary phenomena that appear to require Lamarckian
inheritance of acquired characteristics. The ability of individuals to
learn can guide the evolutionary process. In effect, learning smoothes
the fitness landscape, thus facilitating evolution. Baldwin further
proposed that abilities that initially require learning are eventually
replaced by the evolution of genetically determined systems that do not
require learning. Thus learned behaviours may become instinctive
behaviours in subsequent generations, without appealing to Lamarckian
inheritance.