Quantum Measurement, Entanglement and the Warping Mechanism of Human Perception

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Aerts, Diederik, Arguëlles, Jonito Aerts, Sozzo, Sandro
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Aerts, Diederik
Arguëlles, Jonito Aerts
Sozzo, Sandro
author_facet Aerts, Diederik
Arguëlles, Jonito Aerts
Sozzo, Sandro
contents We prove that the quantum measurement process contains the same warping mechanism that occurs in categorical perception, a phenomenon ubiquitous in human perception. This warping causes stimuli belonging to the same category to be perceived as more similar, while stimuli belonging to different categories are perceived as more different. As a result of a detailed study of the quantum measurement using the Bloch representation, we identify the natural metric for pure states, namely the Fubini Study metric, and the natural metric for density states, namely the trace class metric. The warping mechanism of categorical perception is then manifested, when the distances between pure states, playing the role of stimuli for the quantum measurement, are warped into the distances between density states, playing the role of percepts for quantum measurement. We work out the example of a two-dimensional quantum model, a qubit, with 'light' and 'dark' as the two eigenstates, and show how the typical contraction and dilation warping of human perception manifest themselves in this example of the quantum measurement model of light and dark.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2505_00777
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Quantum Measurement, Entanglement and the Warping Mechanism of Human Perception
Aerts, Diederik
Arguëlles, Jonito Aerts
Sozzo, Sandro
Neurons and Cognition
Quantum Physics
We prove that the quantum measurement process contains the same warping mechanism that occurs in categorical perception, a phenomenon ubiquitous in human perception. This warping causes stimuli belonging to the same category to be perceived as more similar, while stimuli belonging to different categories are perceived as more different. As a result of a detailed study of the quantum measurement using the Bloch representation, we identify the natural metric for pure states, namely the Fubini Study metric, and the natural metric for density states, namely the trace class metric. The warping mechanism of categorical perception is then manifested, when the distances between pure states, playing the role of stimuli for the quantum measurement, are warped into the distances between density states, playing the role of percepts for quantum measurement. We work out the example of a two-dimensional quantum model, a qubit, with 'light' and 'dark' as the two eigenstates, and show how the typical contraction and dilation warping of human perception manifest themselves in this example of the quantum measurement model of light and dark.
title Quantum Measurement, Entanglement and the Warping Mechanism of Human Perception
topic Neurons and Cognition
Quantum Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2505.00777