The construction of learned information through selection processes

The aim of this chapter is to offer an analysis of information in the context of learning and communication. Information has been previously analyzed in the context of phylogenetic evolution, suggesting a receiver-centered, functional notion of information (Jablonka 2002). This analysis is complemented here by addressing the question of how an individual can learn and develop during ontogeny through exchanging and processing information. To this aim, we present a broad notion of functional information that can be applied to both phylogenetic and ontogenetic learning processes. We focus on ontogenetic learning, and claim that learned, functional information is produced through exploration processes and selective stabilization in a receiver.