Probabilistic Programs for Investigating Contextuality in Human Information Processing

Abstract

This article presents a framework for analysing contextuality in human information processing. In the quantum cognition community there has been ongoing speculation that quantum-like contextuality may be present in human cognition. The framework aims to provide a convenient means of designing experiments and performing contextuality analysis in order to ascertain whether this speculation holds. Experimental designs are expressed as probabilistic programs. The semantics of a program are composed from hypergraphs called contextuality scenarios, which, in turn, are used to determine whether the cognitive phenomenon being studied is contextual. Examples are provided illustrate the framework as well as some reflection about its broader application to quantum physics.