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arXiv:quant-ph/0003065

Decoherence, Quantum Zeno Effect, and the Efficacy of Mental Effort

Henry Pierce Stapp

Published Mar 16, 2000• 6 citations
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Abstract

Recent theoretical and experimental papers support the prevailing opinion that large warm systems will rapidly lose quantum coherence, and that classical properties will emerge. This rapid loss of coherence would naturally be expected to block any critical role for quantum theory in explaining the interaction between our conscious experiences and the physical activities of our brains. However, there is a quantum theory of mind in which the efficacy of mental effort is not affected by decoherence effects. In this theory the effects of mental action on brain activity is achieved by a Quantum Zeno Effect that is not weakened by decoherence. The theory is based on a relativistic version of von Neumann's quantum theory. It encompasses all the predictions of Copenhagen quantum theory, which include all the validated predictions of classical physical theory. In addition, it forges two-way dynamical links between the physical and experiential aspects of nature. The theory has significant explanatory power.

DOI
10.48550/arxiv.quant-ph/0003065

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NeuroQuantology•Sep 30, 2012•14 citations
Recent theoretical and experimental papers support the prevailing opinion that large warm systems will rapidly lose quantum coherence, and that classical properties will emerge. This rapid loss of coherence would naturally be expected to block any critical role for quantum theory in explaining the interaction between our conscious experiences and the physical activities of our brains. However, there is a quantum theory of mind in which the efficacy of mental effort is not affected by decoherence effects. In this theory the effects of mental action on brain activity is achieved by a Quantum Zeno Effect that is not weakened by decoherence. The theory is based on a relativistic version of von Neumann's quantum theory. It encompasses all the predictions of Copenhagen quantum theory, which include all the validated predictions of classical physical theory. In addition, it forges two-way dynamical links between the physical and experiential aspects of nature. The theory has significant explanatory power.
A simple exactly solvable model is given of the dynamical coupling between a person's classically described perceptions and that person's quantum mechanically described brain. The model is based jointly upon von Neumann's theory of measurement and the empirical findings of close connections between conscious intentions and synchronous oscillations in well separated parts of the brain. A quantum-Zeno-effect-based mechanism is described that allows conscious intentions to influence brain activity in a functionally appropriate way. The robustness of this mechanism in the face of environmental decoherence effects is emphasized.
The original Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics was offered as a pragmatic methodology for making predictions about future experiences on the basis of knowledge gleaned from past experiences. It was, therefore, fundamentally about mental realities, and refrained from speaking about a more inclusive reality. Von Neumann created, later, what is called the orthodox formulation of quantum mechanics. It incorporates all of the Copenhagen-based predictions about connections between experiences into a rationally coherent conception of a dynamically integrated psychophysical reality. Von Neumann’s formulation allows the same laws and concepts that are used to make predictions about atomic phenomena to account for the capacity of our mental intentions to influence our bodily actions. Danko Georgiev claims to have found logical flaws in my use of von Neumann’s theory to explain this causal effectiveness of our mental intentions. The bulk of Georgiev’s paper gives a detailed discussion of a system with just two base states, up and down. This is not an adequate model of the pertinent physical system, a human brain. Georgiev’s attempt to relate his two-state work to the case at hand is flawed by statements such as “…in von Neumann’s formulation there are no such things as minds, spirits, ghosts, or souls, …” Von Neumann’s formulation certainly does involve minds. Georgiev’s choice of words seems designed to suggest that I am introducing mental qualities and assumptions that go beyond what are already parts of von Neumann’s theory. I explain here why these allegations, and all his other allegations of errors, are incorrect. NeuroQuantology | December 2012 | Volume 10 | Issue 4| Page 601-605
Environmental decoherence appears to be the biggest obstacle for successful construction of quantum mind theories. Nevertheless, the quantum physicist Henry Stapp promoted the view that the mind could utilize quantum Zeno effect to influence brain dynamics and that the efficacy of such mental efforts would not be undermined by environmental decoherence of the brain. To address the physical plausibility of Stapp's claim, we modeled the brain using quantum tunneling of an electron in a multiple-well structure such as the voltage sensor in neuronal ion channels and performed Monte Carlo simulations of quantum Zeno effect exerted by the mind upon the brain in the presence or absence of environmental decoherence. The simulations unambiguously showed that the quantum Zeno effect breaks down for timescales greater than the brain decoherence time. To generalize the Monte Carlo simulation results for any n-level quantum system, we further analyzed the change of brain entropy due to the mind probing actions and proved a theorem according to which local projections cannot decrease the von Neumann entropy of the unconditional brain density matrix. The latter theorem establishes that Stapp's model is physically implausible but leaves a door open for future development of quantum mind theories provided the brain has a decoherence-free subspace.
A quantum mechanical theory of the relationship between perceptions and brain dynamics based on von Neumann's theory of measurments is applied to a recent quantum theoretical treatment of binocular rivaly that makes essential use of the quantum Zeno effect to give good fits to the complex available empirical data. The often-made claim that decoherence effects in the warm, wet, noisy brain must eliminate quantum effects at the macroscopic scale pertaining to perceptions is examined, and it is argued, on the basis of fundamental principles. that the usual decoherence effects will not upset the quantum Zeno effect that is being exploited in the cited work.
The cognitive frame in which most neuropsychological research on the neural basis of behavior is conducted contains the assumption that brain mechanisms per se fully suffice to explain all psychologically described phenomena. This assumption stems from the idea that the brain is made up entirely of material particles and fields, and that all causal mechanisms must therefore be formulated solely in terms of properties of these elements. One consequence of this stance is that psychological terms having intrinsic mentalistic and/or experiential content (terms such as "feeling," "knowing," and "effort") have not been included as primary causal factors in neuropsychological research: insofar as properties are not described in material terms they are deemed irrelevant to the causal mechanisms underlying brain function. However, the origin of this demand that experiential realities be excluded from the causal base is a theory of nature that has been known for more that three quarters of a century to be fundamentally incorrect. It is explained here why it is consequently scientifically unwarranted to assume that material factors alone can in principle explain all causal mechanisms relevant to neuroscience. More importantly, it is explained how a key quantum effect can be introduced into brain dynamics in a simple and practical way that provides a rationally coherent, causally formulated, physics-based way of understanding and using the psychological and physical data derived from the growing set of studies of the capacity of directed attention and mental effort to systematically alter brain function.
In this article we present the mathematical formalism of Quantum Zeno Effect (QZE) and explain how the QZE arises from suppression of coherent evolution due to external strong probing action. Then we prove that the model advocated by Henry Stapp, in which mind efforts are able to exert QZE upon brain states, is not robust against environmental decoherence if the mind is supposed not to violate the Born rule and to act only locally at the brain. The only way for Stapp to patch his proposal would require postulation of mind efforts acting globally on the brain and the entangled environment, which would be regression to a theory predicting paranormal Psi effects. Our argument, taken together with the lack of scientifically valid confirmation of paranormal Psi effects such as telekinesis, imply that Stapp’s model does not have the potential to assist neuroscientists in resolving the mind-brain puzzle. NeuroQuantology | September 2012 | Volume 10 | Issue 3 | Page 374-388