From Quantum Cognition to Conceptuality Interpretation II: Unraveling the Quantum Mysteries

TL;DR

The article defends the conceptuality interpretation, a pancognitivist realism in which quantum entities are conceptual carriers of meaning. It leverages quantum cognition to reinterpret core quantum and relativistic phenomena as meaning-driven processes arising from concept interactions, and develops the extended Bloch representation with hidden-measurement ideas to account for measurement and quantization within this framework. Key contributions include a coherent account of uncertainty, non-spatiality, interference, entanglement, and time dilation, all grounded in meaning-based dynamics, plus speculative links to evolution and panpsychism. The work aims to reshape foundational questions by suggesting that physical reality is governed by cognitive-like processes of meaning construction, with Born's rule emerging as an approximate rule within a broader probabilistic structure and with potential implications for consciousness studies and the philosophy of science.

Abstract

An overview of the conceptuality interpretation of quantum mechanics is presented, along with an explanation of how it sheds light on key quantum and relativistic phenomena. In particular, we show how the interpretation clarifies Heisenberg's uncertainty principle, wave function-based and entanglement-based nonlocality, interference effects resulting from the superposition principle, delayed choice experiments, quantum measurements, the mechanism of quantization, the reason why entities can establish entanglement bonds, and the statistical behavior of indistinguishable entities. We further argue that the interpretation can also elucidate relativistic effects, focusing on time dilation. Finally, we suggest that it can provide a novel and challenging perspective on evolution. This article is the second in a two-part series devoted to exploring this promising approach to reality. The first part, which serves as a companion to this discussion, outlines the intellectual trajectory leading from the first applications of quantum notions to human cognition to the bold rethinking suggested by the conceptuality interpretation.

Figures (3)

• Figure 1: Figure (1) represents the probabilities of selecting a good exemplar of Fruit, with Apple (number 8) being the most frequently chosen. Figure (2) represents the probabilities of selecting a good exemplar of Vegetable, with Broccoli (number 21) being the most frequently chosen. Figure (3) represents the probabilities obtained by uniformly averaging the probabilities of figures (1) and (2). Figure (4) represents the probabilities of selecting a good exemplar of Fruit or vegetable, which are markedly different from those of figure (3), revealing the overextension and underextension effects in Hampton's data. For more details on how these figures were obtained, see aerts2009.
• Figure 2: The log of the numbers $N(E_i)$, of word appearances, in the Winnie the Pooh story In which Piglet meets a Heffalumpmilne1926, as a function of the log of the associated energy levels $E_i$, compared to the Maxwell-Boltzmann and Bose-Einstein distributions. Only the latter coincides almost completely with the graph of the data. The Figure is adapted from Figure 1(b) of aertsbeltran2020.
• Figure 3: The coordination of the conceptual paths followed by the two entities $A$ and $B$, in the spacetime constructed by the cognitive observer $C_A$, here in the situation $n_A=8$ and $n_B=4$.