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The psychology of judgment and decision making can provide useful guidance to the task of medical decision making. More specifically, we describe how a new approach to judgment and decisions, based on quantum probability theory, can shed new light on seemingly irrational judgments, as well as indicate ways to ameliorate these judgment errors. Five different types of probability judgment errors that occur in medical decisions are reviewed. For each one, we provide a simple account using theory from quantum cognition. We conclude by drawing the implications of quantum cognition for ameliorating these common medical probability judgment errors.

This paper demonstrates that some non-classical models of human decision-making can be run successfully as circuits on quantum computers. Since the 1960s, many observed cognitive behaviors have been shown to violate rules based on classical probability and set theory. For example, the order in which questions are posed in a survey affects whether participants answer ‘yes’ or ‘no’, so the population that answers ‘yes’ to both questions cannot be modeled as the intersection of two fixed sets. It can, however, be modeled as a sequence of projections carried out in different orders. This and other examples have been described successfully using quantum probability, which relies on comparing angles between subspaces rather than volumes between subsets. Now in the early 2020s, quantum computers have reached the point where some of these quantum cognitive models can be implemented and investigated on quantum hardware, by representing the mental states in qubit registers, and the cognitive operations and decisions using different gates and measurements. This paper develops such quantum circuit representations for quantum cognitive models, focusing particularly on modeling order effects and decision-making under uncertainty. The claim is not that the human brain uses qubits and quantum circuits explicitly (just like the use of Boolean set theory does not require the brain to be using classical bits), but that the mathematics shared between quantum cognition and quantum computing motivates the exploration of quantum computers for cognition modeling. Key quantum properties include superposition, entanglement, and collapse, as these mathematical elements provide a common language between cognitive models, quantum hardware, and circuit implementations.

We re-examine the long-held postulate that there are two modes of thought, and develop a more fine-grained analysis of how different modes of thought affect conceptual change. We suggest that cognitive development entails the fine-tuning of three dimensions of thought: abstractness, divergence, and context-specificity. Using a quantum cognition modeling approach, we show how these three variables differ, and explain why they would have a distinctively different impacts on thought processes and mental contents. We suggest that, through simultaneous manipulation of all three variables, one spontaneously, and on an ongoing basis, tailors one's mode of thought to the demands of the current situation. The paper concludes with an analysis based on results from an earlier study of children's mental models of the shape of the Earth. The example illustrates how, through reiterated transition between mental states using these three variables, thought processes unfold, and conceptual change ensues. While this example concerns children, the approach applies more broadly to adults as well as children.

Attempts to apply the apparatus of quantum mechanics to cognition and language have met, understandably, with a degree of scepticism within the disciplines concerned, but they nevertheless have the potential for opening exciting new perspectives. In this article, I address the question as to what it is exactly about these attempts that has drawn such attention – both positive and negative – in recent years. I shall argue for distinguishing those aspects of quantum cognition that do warrant serious consideration by cognitive psychologists and linguists irrespective of the exact nature of its relationship to classical quantum mechanics. The key lies in the important role played by analogy in both disciplines.

Many cognitive phenomena of the sort studied by behavioral psychologists show evidence of a threshold effect, where a certain minimum impulse is required in order to produce a change. An example is the phenomenon of preference reversal, where a change in context affects a decision, but only if the effect on perceived utility is sufficiently large. Similar threshold effects play a role in the endowment effect, where the change of context from owning to buying something induces a step change in its perceived value, or the ultimatum game, where people demand a certain minimum threshold amount before a deal can be accepted. The situation is similar to the photoelectric experiment in physics, where a minimum threshold of energy from a photon is required in order to dislodge an electron from an atom. In physics, this quantum of energy is written as the product of Planck’s constant and frequency. This paper uses the concept of entropic force to derive a similar expression for quantum economics. The theory is applied to a range of cognitive and economic phenomena exhibiting a threshold effect.

We investigate the hypothesis that within a combination of a 'number concept' plus a 'substantive concept', such as 'eleven animals,' the identity and indistinguishability present on the level of the concepts, i.e., all eleven animals are identical and indistinguishable, gives rise to a statistical structure of the Bose-Einstein type similar to how Bose-Einstein statistics is present for identical and indistinguishable quantum particles. We proceed by identifying evidence for this hypothesis by extracting the statistical data from the World-Wide-Web utilizing the Google Search tool. By using the Kullback-Leibler divergence method, we then compare the obtained distribution with the Maxwell-Boltzmann as well as with the Bose-Einstein distributions and show that the Bose-Einstein's provides a better fit as compared to the Maxwell-Boltzmanns., 12 pages, 5 figures

Clues from psychology indicate that human cognition are not only based on classical probability theory as explained by Kolmogorov’s axioms but additionally on quantum probability. Quantum probabilities lead to the conclusion that our brain adapted to the Everett many-worlds reality trough the evolutionary process. The Everett many-worlds theory views reality as a many-branched tree in which every possible quantum outcome is realized. In this context, one of the cognitive brain functions is to provide a causally consistent explanation of events to maintain self-identity over time. Causality is related to a meaningful explanation. For impossible explanations, causality does not exist, and the identity of the self breaks. Only in meaningful causal worlds may personal identities exist.

Scientific investigations in the past decades have revealed that the brain’s electric activities correlate with the phenomenology of consciousness. Thus, cognitive science increasingly utilizes physical principles for its analyses. Recently, the Fermionic Mind Hypothesis (FMH) was suggested to explain the hard problem of consciousness. Quantum cognition has considered quantum theory for modeling cognitive phenomena such as memory, language, decision-making, and social interaction for decades. String theory can explain social comparisons and the aptitude for proportionality. The evoked cycle represents an energy-information cycle between the cortex and the limbic brain that is built on the brain’s resting state. Because gravity operates via pressure, time perception informs motivation via emotions. Sensory information, which reflects spatial relationships, is transformed into temporal relationships of memories and decisions. Positive emotions represent an endothermic cycle, which orients toward the future. Negative emotions correspond to information overload; the exothermic process imposes a high energy need on the brain. The energetic consequences of emotions might explain the evolution of intellect as well as mental disease.

Quantum cognition is an emerging field making uses of quantum theory to model cognitive phenomena which cannot be explained by classical theories. Usually, in cognitive tests, subjects are asked to give a response to a question, but, in this paper, we just observed the subjects’ behaviour and the question and answer method was not applied in order to prevent any mental background on participants’ minds. Finally, we examined the experimental data on Hardy’s non-locality argument (HNA), and we noticed the violation of HNA in human behaviour.

Metaphors involving motion and forces are a source of inspiration for understanding tonal music and tonal harmonies since ancient times. Starting with the rise of quantum cognition, the modern inte...

This special issue is conceived out of the proposition that recent developments in quantum theory as well as innovations in quantum technology have profound implications for international relations, especially in the field of international security. Interaction with quantum theory outside the circle of physics has been limited; our goal is to catalyse an informed debate on the virtues of quantum theory for international relations. As new scientific discoveries and technological applications suggest large-scale quantum phenomena, near-simultaneous interconnectivity creates global entanglements, and ubiquitous media produce profound observer-effects, we wish to make of quantum theory a human science. With the arrival of quantum computing, communications and artificial intelligence, we can also expect to see significant transformations in the nature, production and distribution of power and knowledge. This special issue introduces quantum approaches that can help us better understand, anticipate and perhaps even ameliorate the most pressing global issues facing us today and in the near future.

The existing computational cognitive models in cyber security risk management have major limitations in the analysis of cyber security behaviors. To address this issue, we introduce Hilbert space and quantum cognition to cyber security risk management. We compare some key axioms and definitions of classical cognition and quantum cognition. We provide examples on how some unique principles of Hilbert space and quantum cognition such as compatibility can help with the event representation, and capturing cognitive biases that are not possible with classical probability. We shed light on how the mathematical formalism of quantum probability can model the observed deviations from the classicality in human reasoning. We also shed light on how quantum cognition can contribute to the science and practice of cyber security. We argue that Hilbert space and quantum cognition can reconcile violations of classical probability theory in cyber security risk management with a formal theory, and examine whether it is possible to express formally some of the key heuristics in cyber security behaviors.

For two decades, the formalism of quantum mechanics has been successfully used to describe human decision processes, situations of heuristic reasoning, and the contextuality of concepts and their combinations. The phenomenon of 'categorical perception' has put us on track to find a possible deeper cause of the presence of this quantum structure in human cognition. Thus, we show that in an archetype of human perception consisting of the reconciliation of a bottom up stimulus with a top down cognitive expectation pattern, there arises the typical warping of categorical perception, where groups of stimuli clump together to form quanta, which move away from each other and lead to a discretization of a dimension. The individual concepts, which are these quanta, can be modeled by a quantum prototype theory with the square of the absolute value of a corresponding Schr\"odinger wave function as the fuzzy prototype structure, and the superposition of two such wave functions accounts for the interference pattern that occurs when these concepts are combined. Using a simple quantum measurement model, we analyze this archetype of human perception, provide an overview of the experimental evidence base for categorical perception with the phenomenon of warping leading to quantization, and illustrate our analyses with two examples worked out in detail., Comment: 28 pages, 8 figures

The paper describes model of human affect based on quantum theory of semantics. The model considers emotion as subjective representation of behavioral context relative to a basis binary choice, organized by cyclical process structure and an orthogonal evaluation axis. The resulting spherical space, generalizing well-known circumplex models, accommodates basic emotions in specific angular domains. Predicted process-semantic structure of affect is observed in the word2vec data, as well as in the previously obtained spaces of emotion concepts. The established quantum-theoretic structure of affective space connects emotion science with quantum models of cognition and behavior, opening perspective for synergetic progress in these fields.

In a complex task environment in which team behavior emerges and evolves, team agility is one of the primary determinants of a team’s success. Agility is considered an emergent phenomenon in which lower-level system elements interact to adapt to the dynamic environment. One of the dimensions of team agility is interactive decision-making. In this study, we conceptually model individual team members’ interactive decision-making process for their taskwork; we observe how much the choices of one team member depend on antecedent decisions and the behavior of other team members. This also helps us understand how team members synchronize during the decision-making process in agile teams, especially when team members team up with a machine. To improve the understanding of interactive decision-making, we propose two modeling techniques: (1) quantum cognition for the taskwork decision-making processes and (2) nonlinear dynamical systems modeling for teamwork processes.

In the present paper, we aim to develop a formal quantum logic theory of the interplay between conscious and unconscious processes of the human mind, a goal that has already been envisaged in quantum cognition; in doing so, we will show how the interplay between formal language and metalanguage allows for characterizing pure quantum states as infinite singletons: in the case of the spin observable, we obtain an equation defining a modality that is then re-interpreted as an abstract projection operator. By including a temporal parameter in the equations and by defining a modal negative operator, we derive an intuitionistic-like negation, for which the non-contradiction law is seen as an equivalent of the quantum uncertainty. Building on the psychoanalytic theory of Bi-Logic by Matte Blanco, we use modalities in interpreting the emergence of conscious representations from an unconscious one, and we demonstrate that this description fits well with Freud’s view of the role of negation in mental processes. Psychoanalysis, where affect plays a prominent role in shaping not only conscious, but also unconscious representations, is therefore seen as a suitable model to expand the domain of quantum cognition to the broader field of affective quantum cognition.

Quantum cognition emerged as an important discipline of mathematical psychology during the last two decades. Using abstract analogies between mental phenomena and the formal framework of physical quantum theory, quantum cognition demonstrated its ability to resolve several puzzles from cognitive psychology. Until now, quantum cognition essentially exploited ideas from projective (Hilbert space) geometry, such as quantum probability or quantum similarity. However, many powerful tools provided by physical quantum theory, e.g., symmetry groups have not been utilized in the field of quantum cognition research sofar. Inspired by seminal work by Guerino Mazzola on the symmetries of tonal music, our study aims at elucidating and reconciling static and dynamic tonal attraction phenomena in music psychology within the quantum cognition framework. Based on the fundamental principles of octave equivalence, fifth similarity and transposition symmetry of tonal music that are reflected by the structure of the circle of fifths, we develop different wave function descriptions over this underlying tonal space. We present quantum models for static and dynamic tonal attraction and compare them with traditional computational models in musicology. Our approach replicates and also improves predictions based on symbolic models of music perception., Comment: Submitted ms, 38 pages, 7 figures

Multi-agent systems are widely used in implementing systems with autonomous behaviour, as well as simulating models that involve human behaviour. Ethical decision-making is a unique aspect of such ...

Despite increasingly abundant data on revealed travel behaviors, stated preference surveys still play an indispensable role in analyzing and predicting human behaviors in hypothetical scenarios. Recent needs for forecasting travel behaviors in the era of autonomous vehicles and more prevalent sharing economy are examples. However, it is well known that the framing effect in surveys could be significant when asking the same question with different modes, instruments, and wordings. Moreover, systematic deviation is observed when stated preference and revealed preference are compared, per a growing body of studies, due to the framing effect, the change of decision context, and the altered mental states of participants. These situations resemble two prevalent quantum phenomena – measurement influences the state of a system, and different observation sequences on a system render different results. This paper proposes a quantum cognition model consistent with quantum logic and demonstrates its usefulness in the quantitative study of stated and revealed preference. Examples show how to calibrate the model and forecast revealed preference when only stated preference is available. Although the proposed model is not limited to the number of questions, the examples focus on single-question scenarios. This paper takes a utilitarian perspective on quantum mechanics and demonstrates how it could improve survey designs and prediction on revealed preference.

A puzzling finding from research on strategical decision making concerns the effect that predictions have on future actions. Simply stating a prediction about an opponent changes the total probability (pooled over predictions) of a player taking a future action compared to not stating any prediction. This is called an interference effect. We first review five different findings of interference effects from past empirical work using the prisoner's dilemma game. Then we report interference effects obtained from a new experiment in which 493 participants played a six-stage centipede game against a computer agent. During the first stage of the game, the total probability following prediction for cooperation was higher than making a decision alone; during later stages, the total probability following prediction for cooperation was lower than making a decision alone. These interference effects are difficult to explain using traditional economic models, and instead these results suggest turning to a quantum cognition approach to strategic decision making. Toward this end, we develop a belief-action entanglement model that provides a good account of the empirical results.

This paper describes an approach to economics that is inspired by quantum computing, and is motivated by the need to develop a consistent quantum mathematical framework for economics. The traditional neoclassical approach assumes that rational utility-optimisers drive market prices to a stable equilibrium, subject to external perturbations or market failures. While this approach has been highly influential, it has come under increasing criticism following the financial crisis of 2007/8. The quantum approach, in contrast, is inherently probabilistic and dynamic. Decision-makers are described, not by a utility function, but by a propensity function which specifies the probability of transacting. We show how a number of cognitive phenomena such as preference reversal and the disjunction effect can be modelled by using a simple quantum circuit to generate an appropriate propensity function. Conversely, a general propensity function can be quantized, via an entropic force, to incorporate effects such as interference and entanglement that characterise human decision-making. Applications to some common problems and topics in economics and finance, including the use of quantum artificial intelligence, are discussed.

In successful teams, each team member has a distinct taskwork based on individual task roles and responsibilities. Each team member effectively interacts with one another and the technology with which they must interact during the task. Both taskwork and teamwork have situational propensities and entail both ontic and epistemic aspects; thus, understanding how they affect teammates’ taskwork and teamwork becomes crucial to fathom the emergence of team coordination dynamics. This paper conceptually discusses the application of quantum cognition to team coordination; how this approach can improve the understanding of the notion of the whole. The open system model, which incorporates both classical and quantum probability descriptions of a system, is reviewed to describe both ontic and epistemic uncertainty. The open system model's contributions to the entropy of an entangled whole are discussed. Lastly, the conceptual differences between sensing and interaction and the experimental scenarios to study these differences are delineated.

We present the novel approach to mathematical modeling of information processes in biosystems. It explores the mathematical formalism and methodology of quantum theory, especially quantum measurement theory. This approach is known as {\it quantum-like} and it should be distinguished from study of genuine quantum physical processes in biosystems (quantum biophysics, quantum cognition). It is based on quantum information representation of biosystem's state and modeling its dynamics in the framework of theory of open quantum systems. This paper starts with the non-physicist friendly presentation of quantum measurement theory, from the original von Neumann formulation to modern theory of quantum instruments. Then, latter is applied to model combinations of cognitive effects and gene regulation of glucose/lactose metabolism in Escherichia coli bacterium. The most general construction of quantum instruments is based on the scheme of indirect measurement, in that measurement apparatus plays the role of the environment for a biosystem. The biological essence of this scheme is illustrated by quantum formalization of Helmholtz sensation-perception theory. Then we move to open systems dynamics and consider quantum master equation, with concentrating on quantum Markov processes. In this framework, we model functioning of biological functions such as psychological functions and epigenetic mutation.

What kind of dynamic decision process do humans use to make decisions? In this article, two different types of processes are reviewed and compared: Markov and quantum. Markov processes are based on the idea that at any given point in time a decision maker has a definite and specific level of support for available choice alternatives, and the dynamic decision process is represented by a single trajectory that traces out a path across time. When a response is requested, a person's decision or judgment is generated from the current location along the trajectory. By contrast, quantum processes are founded on the idea that a person's state can be represented by a superposition over different degrees of support for available choice options, and that the dynamics of this state form a wave moving across levels of support over time. When a response is requested, a decision or judgment is constructed out of the superposition by "actualizing" a specific degree or range of degrees of support to create a definite state. The purpose of this article is to introduce these two contrasting theories, review empirical studies comparing the two theories, and identify conditions that determine when each theory is more accurate and useful than the other. This article is categorized under: Economics > Individual Decision-Making Psychology > Reasoning and Decision Making Psychology > Theory and Methods.

Financial markets are often modeled using a random walk, for example in the binomial option pricing model which is a discrete version of the Black-Scholes formula. This paper presents an alternative approach to option pricing based on a quantum walk model. The quantum walk, which incorporates superposition states and allows for effects such as interference, was originally developed in physics, but has also seen application in areas such as cognitive psychology, where it is used to model dynamic decision-making processes. It is shown here that the quantum walk model captures key aspects of investor behavior, while the collapsed state captures the observed behavior of markets. The resulting option price model agrees quite closely with the classical random walk model, but helps to explain some observed anomalies. The method also has the advantage that it can be run directly on a quantum computer.

A large number of studies in cognitive science have revealed that probabilistic outcomes of certain human decisions do not agree with the axioms of classical probability theory. The field of Quantum Cognition provides an alternative probabilistic model to explain such paradoxical findings. It posits that cognitive systems have an underlying quantum-like structure, especially in decision-making under uncertainty. In this paper, we hypothesise that relevance judgement, being a multidimensional, cognitive concept, can be used to probe the quantum-like structure for modelling users' cognitive states in information seeking. Extending from an experiment protocol inspired by the Stern-Gerlach experiment in Quantum Physics, we design a crowd-sourced user study to show violation of the Kolmogorovian probability axioms as a proof of the quantum-like structure, and provide a comparison between a quantum probabilistic model and a Bayesian model for predictions of relevance., Comment: To be published at 42nd European Conference on Research in IR, ECIR 2020

Введение. В статье представлен анализ условий возникновения концепции квантовой психологии, ее основных положений и характеристик, которые соответствуют статусу маргинальной науки (парапсихологии). Особое внимание уделено описанию психологических особенностей тех лиц, которые обращаются к исследованию парапсихологических феноменов. Теоретическое обоснование. Авторы описывают, как постмодернистские изменения в мировой культуре во второй половине XX в. отразились на снижении аксиологического статуса науки и на сближении западной сциентистской рациональности с восточной мистикой. Происходят радикальные изменения в мировоззрении и представлениях о физической картине мира, обусловленные открытиями в новой области физики – квантовой механике, которые оказались в противоречии с классической физикой и привычными образами здравого смысла. Изменения в мировоззрении сочетаются с постмодернистскими преобразованиями науки, где существенно выросла роль неявного знания, интерпретативного мышления и принципиальной неустранимости субъективности из результатов научного познания. Авторы рассматривают, как на таком культуральном фоне перенесение квантовых корпускулярно-волновых закономерностей в деятельность головного мозга и психики послужило теоретической основой для возникновения концепции квантовой психологии. Описывается, как не метафорическое, а прямое применение квантовых эффектов в психологию оказывается недостаточно обоснованным как с позиций академической физики, так и психологии. Рассматривается, что по психологическим характеристикам квантовая психология относится к парапсихологической области экстрасенсорных явлений, поскольку утверждает прием и передачу информации без участия известных органов чувств, также как и мысленное воздействие на физические объекты. По философской оценке квантовая концепция сознания определяется как разновидность современного варианта физиологического (физического) редукционизма, который в прошлые времена определялся как «вульгарный материализм». В статье описываются причины склонности человеческой психики к паранормальным интересам, что и обусловливает популярность идеи квантовой психологии. Авторы приводят классификацию психологических особенностей и мотиваций лиц, обращающихся к экстрасенсорным феноменам. Освещаются различные негативные последствия высокой социальной активности разработчиков парапсихологических концепций и практик. Заключение. На основании проведенного анализа авторы полагают, что квантовая психология имеет недостаточную научную обоснованность, чтобы считаться «нормальной» наукой. На современном этапе своего развития квантовая психология находится на уровне теоретических методологических дискуссий своей научной обоснованности, что позволяет определить научный статус квантовой психологии в качестве маргинальной науки.

Categorization is necessary for many decision making tasks. However, the categorization process may interfere the decision making result and bring about the disjunction fallacy. To predict the interference effect of categorization, some models based on quantum cognition theory have been proposed. In quantum dynamical models, like the quantum belief-action entanglement (BAE) model, actions and beliefs are deemed to be entangled. However, the entanglement degree is an artificially defined parameter. In this paper, a new evidential dynamical (ED) model based on Dempster–Shafer (D-S) evidence theory and quantum dynamical modelling is proposed. Considering that sometimes people hesitate to make a decision, it is reasonable to extend the action states by introducing an uncertain state. In an evidential framework, categorization can influence the uncertain state in actions. The interference effect is measured by handling the uncertain state while no extra parameter is defined artificially. The proposed model is applied to the classical categorization decision-making experiments. Compared with the existing models, the number of free parameters in the ED model is less than the classical quantum models, and the ED model is more rational and simpler than an evidential Markov model. The model application results and discussions show the correctness and effectiveness of the ED model. Not only the interference effect of categorization on decision making results is explained and predicted, but also an inspiring dynamical decision making framework is proposed in this paper. We believe that the proposed ED model will bring more opportunities and will result in more applications in the future.

Quantum Cognition has delivered a number of models for semantic memory, but to date these have tended to assume pure states and projective measurement. Here we relax these assumptions. A quantum inspired model of human word association experiments will be extended using a density matrix representation of human memory and a POVM based upon non-ideal measurements. Our formulation allows for a consideration of key terms like measurement and contextuality within a rigorous modern approach. This approach both provides new conceptual advances and suggests new experimental protocols., published in Journal of Mathematical Psychology

We analyse the way in which the principle that 'the whole is greater than the sum of its parts' manifests itself with phenomena of visual perception. For this investigation we use insights and techniques coming from quantum cognition, and more specifically we are inspired by the correspondence of this principle with the phenomenon of the conjunction effect in human cognition. We identify entities of meaning within artefacts of visual perception and rely on how such entities are modelled for corpuses of texts such as the webpages of the World-Wide Web for our study of how they appear in phenomena of visual perception. We identify concretely the conjunction effect in visual artefacts and analyse its structure in the example of a photograph. We also analyse quantum entanglement between different aspects of meaning in artefacts of visual perception. We confirm its presence by showing that well elected experiments on images retrieved accordingly by Google Images give rise to probabilities and expectation values violating the Clauser Horne Shimony Holt version of Bell's inequalities. We point out how this approach can lead to a mathematical description of the meaning content of a visual artefact such as a photograph., Comment: 20 pages, 7 figures

The purpose of this article is to discuss principle ideas of quantum cognition research program, which comprise elements of the formalism of quantum mechanics (mainly Hilbert space theory and quant...

Quantum probability theory has been successfully applied outside of physics to account for numerous findings from psychology regarding human judgement and decision making behavior. However, the researchers who have made these applications do not rely on the hypothesis that the brain is some type of quantum computer. This raises the question of how could the brain implement quantum algorithms other than quantum physical operations. This article outlines one way that a neural based system could perform the computations required by applications of quantum probability to human behavior.

Are our everyday judgments about the world around us normative? Decades of research in the judgment and decision-making literature suggest the answer is no. If people's judgments do not follow normative rules, then what rules if any do they follow? Quantum probability theory is a promising new approach to modeling human behavior that is at odds with normative, classical rules. One key advantage of using quantum theory is that it explains multiple types of judgment errors using the same basic machinery, unifying what have previously been thought of as disparate phenomena. In this article, we test predictions from quantum theory related to the co-occurrence of two classic judgment phenomena, order effects and conjunction fallacies, using judgments about real-world events (related to the U.S. presidential primaries). We also show that our data obeys two a priori and parameter free constraints derived from quantum theory. Further, we examine two factors that moderate the effects, cognitive thinking style (as measured by the Cognitive Reflection Test) and political ideology.

Brain electric activity exhibits two important features: oscillations with different timescales, characterized by diverse functional and psychological outcomes, and a temporal power law distribution. In order to further investigate the relationships between low- and high- frequency spikes in the brain, we used a variant of the Borsuk–Ulam theorem which states that, when we assess the nervous activity as embedded in a sphere equipped with a fractal dimension, we achieve two antipodal points with similar features (the slow and fast, scale-free oscillations). We demonstrate that slow and fast nervous oscillations mirror each other over time via a sinusoid relationship and provide, through the Bloch theorem from solid-state physics, the possible equation which links the two timescale activities. We show that, based on topological findings, nervous activities occurring in micro-levels are projected to single activities at meso- and macro-levels. This means that brain functions assessed at the higher scale of the whole brain necessarily display a counterpart in the lower ones, and vice versa. Our topological approach makes it possible to assess brain functions both based on entropy, and in the general terms of particle trajectories taking place on donut-like manifolds. Condensed brain activities might give rise to ideas and concepts by combination of different functional and anatomical levels. Furthermore, cognitive phenomena, as well as social activity can be described by the laws of quantum mechanics; memories and decisions exhibit holographic organization. In physics, the term duality refers to a case where two seemingly different systems turn out to be equivalent. This topological duality holds for all the types of spatio-temporal brain activities, independent of their inter- and intra-level relationships, strength, magnitude and boundaries, allowing us to connect the physiological manifestations of consciousness to the electric activities of the brain.

A general tension-reduction (GTR) model was recently considered to derive quantum probabilities as (universal) averages over all possible forms of non-uniform fluctuations, and explain their considerable success in describing experimental situations also outside of the domain of physics, for instance in the ambit of quantum models of cognition and decision. Yet, this result also highlighted the possibility of observing violations of the predictions of the Born rule, in those situations where the averaging would not be large enough, or would be altered because of the combination of multiple measurements. In this article we show that this is indeed the case in typical psychological measurements exhibiting question order effects, by showing that their statistics of outcomes are inherently non-Hilbertian, and require the larger framework of the GTR-model to receive an exact mathematical description. We also consider another unsolved problem of quantum cognition: response replicability. It is has been observed that when question order effects and response replicability occur together, the situation cannot be handled anymore by quantum theory. However, we show that it can be easily and naturally described in the GTR-model. Based on these findings, we motivate the adoption in cognitive science of a hidden-measurements interpretation of the quantum formalism, and of its GTR-model generalization, as the natural interpretational framework explaining the data of psychological measurements on conceptual entities., 32 pages, 5 figures

The Necker-Zeno model of bistable perception provides a formal relation between the average duration of meta-stable percepts (dwell times T ) of ambiguous figures and two other basic time scales ( t 0 , ΔT ) underlying cognitive processing. The model predicts that dwell times T covary with t 0 , ΔT or both. We tested this prediction by exploiting that observers, in particular experienced meditators, can volitionally control dwell times T . Meditators and non-meditators observed bistable Necker cubes either passively or tried to hold their current percept. The latencies of a centro-parietal event-related potential (CPP) were recorded as a physiological correlate of t 0 . Dwell times T and the CPP latencies, correlated with t 0 , differed between conditions and observer groups, while ΔT remained constant in the range predicted by the model. The covariation of CPP latencies and dwell times, as well as their quadratic functional dependence extends previous psychophysical confirmation of the Necker-Zeno model to psychophysiological measures.

Our interest focusses on the idea, that consciousness is a powerful acting entity. Up to now there does not exist a scientific concept for this idea. This is not due to problems within the field of psychology or brain research, but rather in resisting theories of modern physics. That is, why we have to search for a solution in the field of physics. A solution can be found in a new understanding of the basics of physical theory. That could be given by abstract and absolute quantum bits of information (AQI bits). To avoid the popular misunderstanding of “information” as “meaningful” it was necessary to find a new word for the free-of-meaning AQI bits: the AQI bits establish a quantum pre-structure termed “Protyposis” (Greek: “pre-formation”), out of which real objects can be formed, starting from energetical and material elementary particles. The Protyposis AQI bits provide a pre-structure for all entities in natural sciences. They are the basic entities, whereof the physical nature of the brain, on the one hand, and the mental nature of consciousness, on the other hand, were formed during the cosmological and the following biological evolution. A deeper understanding of quantum structures may help to overcome the resistance against quantum theory in the field of brain research and consciousness. The key for an understanding is the concept of Protyposis, which means an abstract quantum information free of any definite meaning. With the AQI bits of the Protyposis, both, massless and massive quantum particles can be constructed. Even quantum information with special meanings, in example grammatically formulated thoughts, eventually could be explained. As long as the fundamental basis of quantum theory is misunderstood as being formed by a manifold of some small objects like atoms, quarks, or strings, the problem of understanding consciousness has no solution. If instead we understand quantum theory as based on truly simple quantum structures, there would be no longer fundamental problems for an understanding of consciousness.

This tutorial is intended to provide an introduction to some advanced tools and concepts needed to construct more realistic quantum models of cognition and decision. The aim is to cover, in a format suitable for researchers with some limited exposure to quantum models of cognition, the ideas of density matrices, POVM type measurements and open system dynamics. The central theme we explore is how we might introduce noise into our quantum models, and the effect this has on model behavior. These important ideas are likely to be very useful for constructing more realistic cognitive models, but they are generally not covered by introductory accounts of quantum theory. We hope that this tutorial will help to introduce these tools to other researchers interested in constructing quantum models of cognition.

Recently, quantum theory has shown its effectiveness in modeling psychological phenomena. Given the importance of Bell’s inequality in the context of quantum physics, this work aims to investigate this issue in the domain of human probabilistic reasoning. Here, we present two quantum models that are able to predict the employment of the representativeness heuristic in a probabilistic task based on Bell’s inequality in the Wigner–d’Espagnat format. The difference between the two models is based on the origins of the correlations achievable in conceptual combination; the first assumes incompatible variables while the second is based on quantum entanglement. From these models, two different scenarios related to three dichotomous variables ( A , A ), ( B , B ), ( C , C ) were created. Each scenario was manipulated in order to predict the violation of the inequality ( P r ( A ∩ C ) > P r ( ( A ∩ B ) ∪ ( B ∩ C ) ) ) or not ( P r ( A ∩ C ) ≤ P r ( ( A ∩ B ) ∪ ( B ∩ C ) ) ). Each condition was tested using two different modalities of response: Forced choice and probability rating of a single sentence. In Experiment 1, participants were randomly assigned to a single scenario, condition, and modality of response. The data showed a violation of the inequality consistent with the predictions of both models. In Experiment 2, we investigated the influence of an explicit subadditivity pattern (i.e., if P r ( ( A ∩ B ) ∪ ( B ∩ C ) ) ≤ P r ( A ∩ B ) + P r ( B ∩ C ) ) in our tasks, both from an empirical and theoretical point of view. Our results confirm the use of the quantum cognition approach in developing cognitive models.

The application of principles of Quantum Mechanics in areas outside of physics has been getting increasing attention in the scientific community in an emergent discipline called Quantum Cognition. These principles have been applied to explain paradoxical situations that cannot be easily explained through classical theory. In quantum probability, events are characterised by a superposition state, which is represented by a state vector in a $N$-dimensional vector space. The probability of an event is given by the squared magnitude of the projection of this superposition state into the desired subspace. This geometric approach is very useful to explain paradoxical findings that involve order effects, but do we really need quantum principles for models that only involve projections? This work has two main goals. First, it is still not clear in the literature if a quantum projection model has any advantage towards a classical projection. We compared both models and concluded that the Quantum Projection model achieves the same results as its classical counterpart, because the quantum interference effects play no role in the computation of the probabilities. Second, it intends to propose an alternative relativistic interpretation for rotation parameters that are involved in both classical and quantum models. In the end, instead of interpreting these parameters as a similarity measure between questions, we propose that they emerge due to the lack of knowledge concerned with a personal basis state and also due to uncertainties towards the state of the world and towards the context of the questions.

Peter Mittelstaedt’s contributions to quantum logic and to the foundational problems of quantum theory have significantly realized the most authentic spirit of the International Quantum Structures Association: an original research about hard technical problems, which are often “entangled” with the emergence of important changes in our general world-conceptions. During a time where both the logical and the physical community often showed a skeptical attitude towards Birkhoff and von Neumann’s quantum logic, Mittelstaedt brought into light the deeply innovating features of a quantum logical thinking that allows us to overcome some strong and unrealistic assumptions of classical logical arguments. Later on his intense research on the unsharp approach to quantum theory and to the measurement problem stimulated the increasing interest for unsharp forms of quantum logic, creating a fruitful interaction between the work of quantum logicians and of many-valued logicians. Mittelstaedt’s general views about quantum logic and quantum theory seem to be inspired by a conjecture that is today more and more confirmed: there is something universal in the quantum theoretic formalism that goes beyond the limits of microphysics, giving rise to interesting applications to a number of different fields.

Alexander Wendt’s Quantum Mind and Social Science reopens the question of the relevance of quantum mechanics to the social sciences. In response, I argue that due to “quantum decoherence,” the macr...

The aim of this paper is to explore the ways in which Axiomatic Reconstructions of Quantum Theory in terms of Information-Theoretic principles (ARQITs) can contribute to explaining and understanding quantum phenomena, as well as to study their explanatory limitations. This is achieved in part by offering an account of the kind of explanation that axiomatic reconstructions of quantum theory provide, and re-evaluating the epistemic status of the program in light of this explanation. As illustrative cases studies, I take Clifton's, Bub's and Halvorson's characterization theorem and Popescu's and Rohrlich's toy models, and their explanatory contribution with respect to quantum non-locality. On the one hand, I argue that ARQITs can aspire to provide genuine explanations of (some aspects of) quantum non-locality. On the other hand, I argue that such explanations cannot rule out a mechanical quantum theory.

This paper presents a quantum logic model for learning by behaviour by operant conditioning. We describe several variants of operant conditioning based on the notions semantic anchor and behaviour-meaning pair. If an agent has at its disposal a finite set mutually exclusive behaviours, the mathematical frame for the quantum logic model constructed here is a scalar product space whose dimension is exactly the cardinality of this finite set. We conclude that this type of quantum logic models is especially suitable for applications in cognitive infocommunication.

Quantum approach to human cognition and behavior suffers from a so-called phase problem—lack of means to determine the phase parameter of quantum models before the experiment, which deprives them of predictive power and most of their potential practical impact. We report an empirically supported hypothesis which can help to resolve the issue. According to the hypothesis, the quantum phase between unresolved cognitive alternatives in a family of similar decision making situations is nearly constant across national, linguistic, and cultural backgrounds of subjects. If confirmed, the quantum phase stability phenomenon supplements the quantum model of decision making endowing it with predictive power. This possibility is demonstrated in the testing experiment where irrational behavior within previously unexplored social group could be probabilistically predicted with high accuracy.

According to the field of quantum cognition, a decision to act is best expressed as a quantum process, where entangled ideas and feelings combine and interfere in the mind to produce a complex, context-dependent response. While the quantum approach has proved successful at modelling many aspects of human behaviour, it is less clear how relevant this is to the economy. This paper argues that the financial system is characterised by three kinds of entanglement: at the individual level between concepts, at the social level with other people, and at the financial level through the use of credit. These entanglements combine in such a way that cognitive processes at the individual level scale up to affect the economy as a whole, in a manner which is best modelled using quantum techniques. The approach is illustrated by making a retroactive “postdiction” about the prevalence of strategic mortgage default during the financial crisis, and a prediction for future such crises.

We show that the Brussels operational-realistic approach to quantum physics and quantum cognition offers a fundamental strategy for modeling the meaning associated with collections of documental entities. To do so, we take the World Wide Web as a paradigmatic example and emphasize the importance of distinguishing the Web, made of printed documents, from a more abstract meaning entity, which we call the Quantum Web, or QWeb, where the former is considered to be the collection of traces that can be left by the latter, in specific measurements, similarly to how a non-spatial quantum entity, like an electron, can leave localized traces of impact on a detection screen. The double-slit experiment is extensively used to illustrate the rationale of the modeling, which is guided by how physicists constructed quantum theory to describe the behavior of the microscopic entities. We also emphasize that the superposition principle and the associated interference effects are not sufficient to model all experimental probabilistic data, like those obtained by counting the relative number of documents containing certain words and co-occurrences of words. For this, additional effects, like context effects, must also be taken into consideration., Comment: 27 pages, 6 figures, LateX

This article documents an empirical pilot study conducted to determine whether decisions of image trustworthiness are contextual. Contextuality is an active area of investigation in quantum cognition, however there has been little compelling evidence of its presence in human information processing. A Bell scenario experimental design was employed which manipulated both content and representational features in order to minimize the difference in marginal probabilities across experimental conditions. In addition, participants were subjected to time pressure in order to promote more spontaneous decisions. Results revealed no significant differences in marginal probabilities, however, no evidence of contextuality was found. The study revealed a tension between the requirement for minimizing the difference in marginal probabilities and the need to produce the strong correlations required to empirically ascertain contextuality.