Context and Interference Effects in the Combinations of Natural Concepts

TL;DR

This paper introduces a quantum-inspired mathematical framework to model how natural concepts combine and interfere, explaining deviations from classical logic observed in cognitive psychology experiments.

Contribution

It presents a novel quantum formalism-based model for conceptual combinations, addressing the longstanding problem of over- and under-extension effects in cognition.

Findings

Concepts interfere when combined, affecting membership judgments.

Quantum effects explain deviations from classical set theories.

The framework unifies various observed cognitive phenomena.

Abstract

The mathematical formalism of quantum theory exhibits significant effectiveness when applied to cognitive phenomena that have resisted traditional (set theoretical) modeling. Relying on a decade of research on the operational foundations of micro-physical and conceptual entities, we present a theoretical framework for the representation of concepts and their conjunctions and disjunctions that uses the quantum formalism. This framework provides a unified solution to the 'conceptual combinations problem' of cognitive psychology, explaining the observed deviations from classical (Boolean, fuzzy set and Kolmogorovian) structures in terms of genuine quantum effects. In particular, natural concepts 'interfere' when they combine to form more complex conceptual entities, and they also exhibit a 'quantum-type context-dependence', which are responsible of the 'over- and under-extension' that are systematically observed in experiments on membership judgments.