experiential selection

Compiled with AI assistance and selectively reviewed. Please consult the cited passages; the books remain the authoritative source. About this companion

Editorial synthesis · provisional

Definition

Experiential selection is the experience-dependent modification of synaptic strengths within Edelman’s neuronal-group framework, forming a secondary repertoire from earlier neural diversity. RB2 describes activity, feedback and bodily value systems biasing these changes. The process is distinct from developmental repertoire formation, and its selection language concerns differential reinforcement rather than copying neuronal groups or consciously choosing which synapses should survive.

Explanation

The direct account says synapses strengthen or weaken as an individual interacts with the environment. Secondary repertoire names that experience-shaped organization, while the primary repertoire concerns developmental diversity. The distinction does not require the learner to articulate a rule or posit an inner evaluator outside the neural process.

Value-dependent selection adds modulation by biologically salient conditions. Neuromodulatory signals bias firing, learning and synaptic change so some patterns become consequential for an embodied organism. The native Friston reference reports a synthetic neural simulation; the proposal does not silently recast that simulation as a complete empirical demonstration in a living brain.

Reentry and bodily engagement provide the wider context in which learned changes become coordinated perception and action. A selected pattern can reflect salience without guaranteeing correct belief, ethical judgment or successful adaptation in every later context. The biological analogy remains limited by the explicit lack of neuronal-group replication.

Scope and attribution

Keep synaptic modification, embodied value and theoretical attribution without implying conscious selection or guaranteed adaptive correctness.

RB2 — The Real Book, Volume II: Becoming Is Being

Experience-dependent synaptic modification is value-biased and embedded, with simulation provenance retained.

Occurrence locators: 20, 21, 22, 23, 25, 26, 27, 37.

Background used in the editorial explanation

Named theories and mechanisms are distinguished from neighboring background, homonyms and the author’s own synthesis. Reproduced AI passages retain their separate voice.