Evolving computational neural systems using synthetic developmental mechanisms

Biological development is highly complex, beginning with an egg and resulting in a complete living organism (Purves and Lichtman, 1985). Development is essentially sequential, establishing a gross structure which becomes progressively more complex over time (Goodwin, 1991). This refinement of structure and function/behaviour operates across many different levels of the biological scale, from molecules to cells to tissues and organs. On each level of scale there is interactive self-organization between the constituent elements (Goodwin, 1996). Neural development is an example of these processes which leads to the development of a nervous system and associated functions. [opening paragraph]