Searching for Quantum Effects in the Brain: A Bell-Type Test for Nonclassical Latent Representations in Autoencoders

TL;DR

This paper proposes a Bell-type test applied to neural network representations to detect potential quantum effects in brain information processing, offering a new experimental approach to explore neural quantum phenomena.

Contribution

It introduces a model-agnostic, information-theoretic test for nonclassicality in neural representations using autoencoders, shifting focus from microscopic dynamics to observable information processing constraints.

Findings

Developed a Bell-type consistency test for latent space in autoencoders.

Proposed a method to detect quantum-like signatures in neural systems.

Opened a new experimental pathway for investigating neural quantum effects.

Abstract

Whether neural information processing is entirely classical or involves quantum-mechanical elements remains an open question. Here we propose a model-agnostic, information-theoretic test of nonclassicality that bypasses microscopic assumptions and instead probes the structure of neural representations themselves. Using autoencoders as a transparent model system, we introduce a Bell-type consistency test in latent space, and ask whether decoding statistics obtained under multiple readout contexts can be jointly explained by a single positive latent-variable distribution. By shifting the search for quantum-like signatures in neural systems from microscopic dynamics to experimentally testable constraints on information processing, this work opens a new route for probing the fundamental physics of neural computation.