Incremental commitment in genetic algorithms
Richard A. R. Watson, Jordan B. Pollack · 1999
Genetic linkage refers to the proximity of genes on the genome and their corresponding tendency to travel together during crossover. Successful recombination in the simple GA is dependent on the correspondence between genetic linkage and epistatic linkage (the interdependency of gene expression). That is, interdependent genes must be close to each other on the genome for crossover to be successful. Several methods have been proposed to (re)order genes on the genome when the initial ordering is unfavorable. The Messy GA (MGA) is one such moving-locus scheme. However, gene reordering is only part of the Messy picture. The MGA uses another mechanism for representing epistatic linkage and enabling successful recombination. Specifically, the use of partial specification (or variable length genomes) allows the individuals themselves, rather than the ordering of genes within an individual, to represent which genes `go together'. This paper examines this critical feature of the MGA and illustr...