Quantum Entanglement in Concept Combinations

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates quantum entanglement in concept combinations through an experiment violating Bell's inequalities, introduces a refined entanglement model including measurements and evolutions, and discusses implications for quantum theory foundations.

Contribution

It presents a new quantum entanglement scheme involving entangled measurements and evolutions to model conceptual data, extending traditional entanglement concepts.

Findings

Bell's inequalities are violated in the experiment

A refined quantum model with entangled measurements and evolutions is proposed

Full quantum representation of conceptual data in Hilbert space is achieved

Abstract

Research in the application of quantum structures to cognitive science confirms that these structures quite systematically appear in the dynamics of concepts and their combinations and quantum-based models faithfully represent experimental data of situations where classical approaches are problematical. In this paper, we analyze the data we collected in an experiment on a specific conceptual combination, showing that Bell's inequalities are violated in the experiment. We present a new refined entanglement scheme to model these data within standard quantum theory rules, where 'entangled measurements and entangled evolutions' occur, in addition to the expected 'entangled states', and present a full quantum representation in complex Hilbert space of the data. This stronger form of entanglement in measurements and evolutions might have relevant applications in the foundations of quantum theory, as well as in the interpretation of nonlocality tests. It could indeed explain some non-negligible 'anomalies' identified in EPR-Bell experiments.