Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Log inSign up
Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Blog
Job Board
Q3AS

© 2026 Aqora Quantum S.A.S.

TermsPrivacyLegal Notice

Quantum consciousness, brains, and cognition

Jerome R. Busemeyer, Meijuan Lu

Published Mar 5, 2025• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Quantum consciousness concerns both the possible role that quantum mechanicshas for understanding consciousness as well as the role that consciousnesshas for interpreting quantum physics. Quantum brain theorieshypothesize that quantum physical processes occur within and between theneurons of the brain and have important effects on cognition as well as consciousness.Quantum cognition is a growing new field in cognitive scienceconcerned with the application of the mathematical principles of quantumtheory to human judgment and decision-making behavior. What do all thesetheories have to do with each other? Quantum theories of consciousness havemore to say about quantum physics than cognitive psychology and consciousexperiences. Quantum brain theories have not been sufficiently “scaled up”to provide clear implications for how quantum physical processes generatemore complex cognition. Quantum cognition theories have avoided addressingfundamental issues about consciousness and have remained agnostic withrespect to the quantum brain hypothesis. This article will address the problemof connecting these ideas together by connecting quantum cognition tothe other two topics.

DOI
10.31234/osf.io/df7a8_v2

Related papers

Quantum consciousness, brains, and cognition

Jerome R. Busemeyer, Meijuan Lu

Quantum consciousness concerns both the possible role that quantum mechanicshas for understanding consciousness as well as the role that consciousnesshas for interpreting quantum physics. Quantum brain theorieshypothesize that quantum physical processes occur within and between theneurons of the brain and have important effects on cognition as well as consciousness.Quantum cognition is a growing new field in cognitive scienceconcerned with the application of the mathematical principles of quantumtheory to human judgment and decision-making behavior. What do all thesetheories have to do with each other? Quantum theories of consciousness havemore to say about quantum physics than cognitive psychology and consciousexperiences. Quantum brain theories have not been sufficiently “scaled up”to provide clear implications for how quantum physical processes generatemore complex cognition. Quantum cognition theories have avoided addressingfundamental issues about consciousness and have remained agnostic withrespect to the quantum brain hypothesis. This article will address the problemof connecting these ideas together by connecting quantum cognition tothe other two topics.

•Mar 3, 2025•0 citations

Quantum consciousness, brains, and cognition

Jerome R. Busemeyer, Meijuan Lu

Quantum consciousness concerns both the possible role that quantum mechanicshas for understanding consciousness as well as the role that consciousnesshas for interpreting quantum physics. Quantum brain theorieshypothesize that quantum physical processes occur within and between theneurons of the brain and have important effects on cognition as well as consciousness.Quantum cognition is a growing new field in cognitive scienceconcerned with the application of the mathematical principles of quantumtheory to human judgment and decision-making behavior. What do all thesetheories have to do with each other? Quantum theories of consciousness havemore to say about quantum physics than cognitive psychology and consciousexperiences. Quantum brain theories have not been sufficiently “scaled up”to provide clear implications for how quantum physical processes generatemore complex cognition. Quantum cognition theories have avoided addressingfundamental issues about consciousness and have remained agnostic withrespect to the quantum brain hypothesis. This article will address the problemof connecting these ideas together by connecting quantum cognition tothe other two topics.

•Oct 4, 2025•1 citation

Quantum Consciousness, Brains, and Cognition

Jerome R. Busemeyer, Meijuan Lu

Quantum consciousness concerns both the possible role that quantum mechanics has for understanding consciousness as well as the role that consciousness has for interpreting quantum physics. Quantum brain theories hypothesize that quantum physical processes occur within and between the neurons of the brain and have important effects on cognition as well as consciousness. Quantum cognition is a growing new field in cognitive science concerned with the application of the mathematical principles of quantum theory to human judgment and decision-making behaviour. What do all these theories have to do with each other? Quantum theories of consciousness have more to say about quantum physics than cognitive psychology and conscious experiences. Quantum brain theories have not been sufficiently ‘scaled up’ to provide clear implications for how quantum physical processes generate more complex cognition. Quantum cognition theories have avoided addressing fundamental issues about consciousness and have remained agnostic with respect to the quantum brain hypothesis. This article will address the problem of connecting these ideas together by connecting quantum cognition to the other two topics.

Journal of Consciousness Studies•Oct 1, 2025•3 citations

Decision-Making & Quantum Mechanical Models of Cognitive Processing

John Jung Park

There have been numerous neurobiological theories positing that quantum mechanics is importantly responsible for certain psychological phenomena, such as consciousness and conscious decision-making. In this respect, such theories understand the relevant aspects of the brain to be “quantum mechanical.” Although it is highly questionable whether any of these theories have the requisite or sufficient empirical evidence strictly within the domain of neuroscience to appropriately justify their views, a different approach to arguing that quantum mechanics is importantly relevant to human decisionmaking will be discussed. By putting various puzzle pieces together of empirical evidence in psychology that quantum probability models describe certain human cognitive decision-making processes, I contend that human decision-making overall is best described by quantum mechanical processes. Finally, I at times provide a novel defense of this view from a number of objections.

Journal of Cognitive Science•Jun 1, 2016•1 citation

Quantum Cognition: Exploring the Interface Between Quantum Computing Principles and Human Information Processing

Troublefield, Troy

The emergence of quantum computing has prompted researchers to examine potential parallels between quantum mechanical principles and human cognitive processes. This article explores the theoretical framework of quantum cognition, examining how concepts from quantum mechanics, including superposition, entanglement, and measurement, might inform our understanding of human decision-making, memory, and consciousness. While quantum computing operates on fundamentally different physical principles than biological neural networks, the mathematical formalisms of quantum mechanics offer novel perspectives on cognitive phenomena that classical probability theory struggles to explain. This review critically examines the current state of quantum cognition research, its applications in computational modeling, and the ongoing debates regarding the validity of quantum mechanical analogies in psychological theory. The analysis reveals both promising theoretical insights and significant limitations in applying quantum principles to human cognition, highlighting the need for empirical validation and careful distinction between mathematical analogy and physical reality.

•Nov 9, 2025•0 citations

A QUANTUM-LIKE APPROACH IN UNDERSTANDING MODELING COGNITION AND DECISION-MAKING PROCESSES (REVIEW OF FOREIGN LITERATURE)

M. M. Yusupova, S. A. Gureev, Mingazov R.N. +1 more

The article presents a review of foreign scientific literature on the quantum-like approach to understanding the modeling of cognition and decision-making processes. It is shown that the current application of quantum physics approaches to consciousness, psychological approaches such as perception, cognition, emotions, consciousness and learning, involves the search for a single objective mathematical model of what underlies the experience of the brain. The use of quantum physics algorithms can help in understanding the mechanisms of brain malfunctions and memory impairments that are found in pathologies such as dementia caused by Alzheimer's disease, schizophrenia, etc. Quantum physics approaches are applicable to issues of modeling cognition and decision-making processes, as well as in cognitive research, information processing by the human brain, artificial intelligence development, psychology, social and political sciences. Application of the abstract mathematical principles of quantum theory can help in understanding human consciousness and behavior. Quantum probability theory is applied to modeling human behavior due to the prevalence of uncertainty in human interaction with the world. Quantum cognitive models are especially useful in research in such areas as errors in decision making, order effects of questions, conceptual combinations, accumulation of evidence, perception, etc. Of particular interest to researchers are issues of quantum-like modeling of cognition and decision-making processes, the apparatus of quantum information and probability theory, useful for such modeling, as well as the use of such apparatus in cognitive research, the development of artificial intelligence, psychology, social and political sciences.

Bulletin Biomedicine and sociology•Sep 30, 2023•0 citations
Quantum consciousness concerns both the possible role that quantum mechanicshas for understanding consciousness as well as the role that consciousnesshas for interpreting quantum physics. Quantum brain theorieshypothesize that quantum physical processes occur within and between theneurons of the brain and have important effects on cognition as well as consciousness.Quantum cognition is a growing new field in cognitive scienceconcerned with the application of the mathematical principles of quantumtheory to human judgment and decision-making behavior. What do all thesetheories have to do with each other? Quantum theories of consciousness havemore to say about quantum physics than cognitive psychology and consciousexperiences. Quantum brain theories have not been sufficiently “scaled up”to provide clear implications for how quantum physical processes generatemore complex cognition. Quantum cognition theories have avoided addressingfundamental issues about consciousness and have remained agnostic withrespect to the quantum brain hypothesis. This article will address the problemof connecting these ideas together by connecting quantum cognition tothe other two topics.
Quantum consciousness concerns both the possible role that quantum mechanicshas for understanding consciousness as well as the role that consciousnesshas for interpreting quantum physics. Quantum brain theorieshypothesize that quantum physical processes occur within and between theneurons of the brain and have important effects on cognition as well as consciousness.Quantum cognition is a growing new field in cognitive scienceconcerned with the application of the mathematical principles of quantumtheory to human judgment and decision-making behavior. What do all thesetheories have to do with each other? Quantum theories of consciousness havemore to say about quantum physics than cognitive psychology and consciousexperiences. Quantum brain theories have not been sufficiently “scaled up”to provide clear implications for how quantum physical processes generatemore complex cognition. Quantum cognition theories have avoided addressingfundamental issues about consciousness and have remained agnostic withrespect to the quantum brain hypothesis. This article will address the problemof connecting these ideas together by connecting quantum cognition tothe other two topics.
Quantum consciousness concerns both the possible role that quantum mechanicshas for understanding consciousness as well as the role that consciousnesshas for interpreting quantum physics. Quantum brain theorieshypothesize that quantum physical processes occur within and between theneurons of the brain and have important effects on cognition as well as consciousness.Quantum cognition is a growing new field in cognitive scienceconcerned with the application of the mathematical principles of quantumtheory to human judgment and decision-making behavior. What do all thesetheories have to do with each other? Quantum theories of consciousness havemore to say about quantum physics than cognitive psychology and consciousexperiences. Quantum brain theories have not been sufficiently “scaled up”to provide clear implications for how quantum physical processes generatemore complex cognition. Quantum cognition theories have avoided addressingfundamental issues about consciousness and have remained agnostic withrespect to the quantum brain hypothesis. This article will address the problemof connecting these ideas together by connecting quantum cognition tothe other two topics.
Quantum consciousness concerns both the possible role that quantum mechanics has for understanding consciousness as well as the role that consciousness has for interpreting quantum physics. Quantum brain theories hypothesize that quantum physical processes occur within and between the neurons of the brain and have important effects on cognition as well as consciousness. Quantum cognition is a growing new field in cognitive science concerned with the application of the mathematical principles of quantum theory to human judgment and decision-making behaviour. What do all these theories have to do with each other? Quantum theories of consciousness have more to say about quantum physics than cognitive psychology and conscious experiences. Quantum brain theories have not been sufficiently ‘scaled up’ to provide clear implications for how quantum physical processes generate more complex cognition. Quantum cognition theories have avoided addressing fundamental issues about consciousness and have remained agnostic with respect to the quantum brain hypothesis. This article will address the problem of connecting these ideas together by connecting quantum cognition to the other two topics.
There have been numerous neurobiological theories positing that quantum mechanics is importantly responsible for certain psychological phenomena, such as consciousness and conscious decision-making. In this respect, such theories understand the relevant aspects of the brain to be “quantum mechanical.” Although it is highly questionable whether any of these theories have the requisite or sufficient empirical evidence strictly within the domain of neuroscience to appropriately justify their views, a different approach to arguing that quantum mechanics is importantly relevant to human decisionmaking will be discussed. By putting various puzzle pieces together of empirical evidence in psychology that quantum probability models describe certain human cognitive decision-making processes, I contend that human decision-making overall is best described by quantum mechanical processes. Finally, I at times provide a novel defense of this view from a number of objections.
The emergence of quantum computing has prompted researchers to examine potential parallels between quantum mechanical principles and human cognitive processes. This article explores the theoretical framework of quantum cognition, examining how concepts from quantum mechanics, including superposition, entanglement, and measurement, might inform our understanding of human decision-making, memory, and consciousness. While quantum computing operates on fundamentally different physical principles than biological neural networks, the mathematical formalisms of quantum mechanics offer novel perspectives on cognitive phenomena that classical probability theory struggles to explain. This review critically examines the current state of quantum cognition research, its applications in computational modeling, and the ongoing debates regarding the validity of quantum mechanical analogies in psychological theory. The analysis reveals both promising theoretical insights and significant limitations in applying quantum principles to human cognition, highlighting the need for empirical validation and careful distinction between mathematical analogy and physical reality.
The article presents a review of foreign scientific literature on the quantum-like approach to understanding the modeling of cognition and decision-making processes. It is shown that the current application of quantum physics approaches to consciousness, psychological approaches such as perception, cognition, emotions, consciousness and learning, involves the search for a single objective mathematical model of what underlies the experience of the brain. The use of quantum physics algorithms can help in understanding the mechanisms of brain malfunctions and memory impairments that are found in pathologies such as dementia caused by Alzheimer's disease, schizophrenia, etc. Quantum physics approaches are applicable to issues of modeling cognition and decision-making processes, as well as in cognitive research, information processing by the human brain, artificial intelligence development, psychology, social and political sciences. Application of the abstract mathematical principles of quantum theory can help in understanding human consciousness and behavior. Quantum probability theory is applied to modeling human behavior due to the prevalence of uncertainty in human interaction with the world. Quantum cognitive models are especially useful in research in such areas as errors in decision making, order effects of questions, conceptual combinations, accumulation of evidence, perception, etc. Of particular interest to researchers are issues of quantum-like modeling of cognition and decision-making processes, the apparatus of quantum information and probability theory, useful for such modeling, as well as the use of such apparatus in cognitive research, the development of artificial intelligence, psychology, social and political sciences.