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Paper details
Number 3 - September 2015
Volume 25 - 2015
A study on meme propagation in multimemetic algorithms
Rafael Nogueras, Carlos Cotta
Abstract
Multimemetic algorithms (MMAs) are a subclass of memetic algorithms in which memes are explicitly attached to genotypes
and evolve alongside them. We analyze the propagation of memes in MMAs with a spatial structure. For this purpose
we propose an idealized selecto-Lamarckian model that only features selection and local improvement, and study under
which conditions good, high-potential memes can proliferate. We compare population models with panmictic and toroidal
grid topologies. We show that the increased takeover time induced by the latter is essential for improving the chances
for good memes to express themselves in the population by improving their hosts, hence enhancing their survival rates.
Experiments realized with an actual MMA on three different complex pseudo-Boolean functions are consistent with these
findings, indicating that memes are more successful in a spatially structured MMA, rather than in a panmictic MMA, and
that the performance of the former is significantly better than that of its panmictic counterpart.
Keywords
memetic algorithms, spatial structure, meme propagation