Quantum Interference and Superposition in Cognition: Development of a Theory for the Disjunction of Concepts

We elaborate a theory for the modeling of concepts using the mathematical structure of quantum mechanics. Items and concepts are represented by vectors in the complex Hilbert space of quantum mechanics and membership weights of items are modeled by quantum weights calculated following the quantum rules. We apply this theory to model the disjunction of concepts and show that the predictions of our theory for the membership weights of items with respect to the disjunction of concepts match with great accuracy the results of an experiment conducted by Hampton (1988b). It is the quantum effects of interference and superposition that are at the origin of the effects of overextension and underextension observed by Hampton as deviations from a classical use of the disjunction. We show that the complex numbers of the Hilbert space are essential to obtaining the experimental predictions, i.e. vector space models over real numbers do not provide predictions matching the experimental data. We put forward an explanation of the effects of overextension and underextension by interpreting the quantum model applied to the modeling of the disjunction of concepts.