Quantum-Like Models of Cognition and Decision Making: Open-Systems and Gorini--Kossakowski--Sudarshan--Lindblad Dynamics

TL;DR

This paper reviews the evolution of quantum-like models in cognition, emphasizing the use of GKSL open quantum system dynamics to model mental state evolution, agency, and strategic decision outcomes.

Contribution

It introduces a dynamical framework based on GKSL equations to analyze cognitive processes, including decision stability and internal cognitive oscillations.

Findings

Modeling mental states as dissipative processes influenced by informational environments.

Identification of 'cognitive beats' as signatures of internal cognitive tension.

Demonstration of stabilizing non-Nash outcomes in strategic games like Prisoner's Dilemma.

Abstract

This paper starts with surveying the evolution of quantum-like models of cognition and decision making, transitioning from static kinematic representations to a robust dynamical framework based on open quantum systems. We provide a comprehensive analysis of the Gorini-Kossakowski-Sudarshan-Lindblad (GKSL) master equation's application in cognitive psychology and decision making, illustrating how it models mental state evolution as a dissipative process influenced by an informational environment. We categorize dynamical regimes into Passive and Active Hamiltonians, demonstrating how non-commutation with projections on decision basis serves as a mathematical signature of cognitive agency and Quantum Escape from classical equilibria. The utility of this framework is further explored through its ability to stabilize non-Nash outcomes in strategic games, such as the Prisoner's Dilemma. Building upon this dynamical foundation, we identify ``cognitive beats'' as a signature of the internal struggle between competing ``flows of mind'' deliberated at approximately equal frequencies. Distinct from the damped oscillations of simple interference, these beats emerge from a structural tension between Liouvillian channels that generates a secondary, slow-scale modulation of conviction. This beat envelope dictates the timing of peak readiness and hesitation, providing a mathematical map of the transition between conflicting cognitive states. By resolving these nested time scales, we provide a new spectral diagnostic for the depth of cognitive agency and the complexity of the underlying deliberation process. This paper develops a theoretical framework linking GKSL dynamics with quantum-like cognition and decision-making (QCDM), highlighting how dissipative quantum models can capture features of human thought and decision processes.