Testing the Effectiveness of Variations in an Information Store against an Environment

Testing the Effectiveness of Variations in an Information Store
against an Environment
The manner in which variations to natural information stores are tested for
eVectiveness can be described by rules. The general rule is that a variation
that more closely coordinates activity with an environment will tend to
persist, whereas a variation that decreases the coordination of activity with
an environment will disappear. This rule is referred to as the environmental
coordination rule. Particular versions of this general rule can be described
for both evolutionary biology and the manner in which human cognitive
architecture handles information.
The mechanism of natural selection is well known. OVspring retain many
of the characteristics of their parents, and individuals with more
advantageous variations leave more oVspring than individuals with
less advantageous variations. Natural selection is an example of the
environmental coordination rule. Information contained in a genetic code
will persist if that code results in activity that is well coordinated with an
environment. Information will disappear if activity is poorly coordinated
with an environment. An alteration that increases coordination of activity
with an environment will result in permanent changes to the genetic code.
An alteration that decreases coordination with an environment will result in
no permanent changes to the genetic code.
Evolution of human cognitive architecture 237The environmental coordination rule applies equally to humans
processing information. The rule is reflected in the third row of the matrix
of continua, the problem-solving search continuum. Humans will generally
use information in long-term memory to govern their activity (on the right
of the problem-solving continuum). Any departures from the use of that
information will be tested for eVectiveness against the environment using
problem-solving strategies such as means-ends analysis. Novel procedures
that coordinate activity with the environment more accurately are likely to
be retained in long-term memory and used again. The long-term memory
store is altered by successful procedures. Procedures that fail to coordinate
with the environment will not be retained in long-term memory and tend not
to be used again. The long-term memory store is left largely unchanged by
unsuccessful procedures. This mechanism is closely analogous to evolution
by natural selection