Effectiveness of the quantum-mechanical formalism in cognitive modeling

J. Acácio de Barros

Liane M. Gabora, Emmanuel M. Pothos, Iana Bashmakova

The quantum cognition approach draws upon a mathematical framework originally developed for quantum mechanics. One phenomenon that is particularly well captured by quantum models but not classical ones, known as the Question Order Effect, is that the order of questions can alter the answers given. This paper describes at a layperson level a study that uses this effect to ascertain whether creative thinking and the processing of unfamiliar stimuli both elicit cognitive states and processes that are best described by a quantum model. The rationale is that both involve key quantum features that the quantum formalism is particularly well-suited to capture: ambiguity and contextuality.

Michal Stríženec, P. Stríženec

Tomás Veloz, Pablo Razeto‐Barry

Riccardo Franco

In the present article we consider the conjunction fallacy, a well known cognitive heuristic experimentally tested in cognitive science, which occurs for intuitive judgments in situations of bounded rationality. We show that the quantum formalism can be used to describe in a very simple way this fallacy in terms of interference effect. We evidence that the quantum formalism leads quite naturally to violations of Bayes' rule when considering the probability of the conjunction of two events. Thus we suggest that in cognitive science the formalism of quantum mechanics can be used to describe a \textit{quantum regime}, the bounded-rationality regime, where the cognitive heuristics are valid.

Sisir Roy