Abstract
We review recent progress in understanding similarity judgments in cognition by means of quantum probability theory (QP) models. We begin by outlining some features of similarity judgments that have proven difficult to model by traditional approaches. We then briefly present a model of similarity judgments based on QP, and show how it can solve many of the problems faced by traditional approaches. Finally we look at some areas where the quantum model is currently less satisfactory, and discuss some open questions and areas for further work.
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Notes
- 1.
It is often asserted that a superposition state such as \(|\psi \rangle \) represents thinking about \(|v_1\rangle \) and \(|v_2\rangle \) at the same time. This is incorrect. The correct interpretation of such a state is that it represents thinking about neither \(|v_1\rangle \) nor \(|v_2\rangle \) (Griffiths 2002).
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Acknowledgments
E.M.P. and J.M.Y. were supported by Leverhulme Trust grant no. RPG-2013-00. Further, E.M.P. was supported by Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR), Air Force Material Command, USAF, grants no. FA 8655-13-1-3044. The US Government is authorized to reproduce and distribute reprints for Governmental purpose notwithstanding any copyright notation thereon.
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Yearsley, J.M., Pothos, E.M., Hampton, J.A., Barque Duran, A. (2015). Towards a Quantum Probability Theory of Similarity Judgments. In: Atmanspacher, H., Bergomi, C., Filk, T., Kitto, K. (eds) Quantum Interaction. QI 2014. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 8951. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-15931-7_11
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