Evolving artificial neural networks

Learning and evolution ai-e two fundamental forms of adaptation. There has been a gl-eat interest in combining learning and evolution with artificial neural networks (ANN's) in recent years. This paper: I) reviews reviews ent combinations between ANN's and evolutionary algorithms (EA's), including using EA's to evolve ANN connection weights, architectures, learning rules, and input features; 2) discusses different search operators which have been used in various EA's; and 3) points out possible future research directions. it is shown, through a considerably large literature review, that combinations between ANN's and EA's can lead to significantly better intelligent systems than relying on ANN's or EA's alone.