The Evolution of Behavior as the Evolution of Behavioral Mechanisms: Theory and Experiments on Learning Rules and Their Adaptive Consequences

Dr. Lotem's talk will be based on his group's recent attempts to explain apparently maladaptive behaviors in humans and other animals as the consequences of generally adaptive learning mechanisms. He will first describe several cases where seemingly paradoxical behavior can be explained as the result of using relatively simple learning rules. He will then discuss the evolution of such learning rules in the context of individual decision-making under variable conditions, as well as in the context of social foraging games (of searchers and followers). Finally, he will consider the role of learning dynamics as important mediators of gene-environment interaction. 

Professor Lotem's research combines theoretical and experimental work and deals with the relationship between Behavior, Ecology and Evolution. He can be described as someone who attempts to explain the adaptive value of behavior in light of the realistic complexity of behavioral mechanisms, and to study behavioral mechanisms with evolutionary theory in mind. In his early work on cuckoo-host co-evolution he showed that host acceptance of cuckoo parasitism can only make adaptive sense in light of the realistic complexity of learning and recognition mechanisms, and that these mechanisms may be better understood in light of their evolutionary and ecological context (Lotem 1993, Lotem et al. 1995, Rodriguez-Gironez & Lotem 1999). In his current research he explores the role of individual variation, phenotypic plasticity, and learning mechanisms in the evolution of parent-offspring communication, decision making, mate choice, and social behavior.