Indian Journal of Science and Technology

Abstract

Objectives: This research is first of its kind to investigate the application of quantum mechanics and related mathematical models to cognitive science, specifically focusing on the challenge of modeling how the human mind assigns meaning to combinations of words. The primary objective is to classify whether given word combinations are compositional or non-compositional. Methods: The author introduces the "WWW method," which leverages the World Wide Web (WWW) as an experimental tool in place of human subjects, which makes this method cheaper and handy in comparison to the earlier methods which used human subjects for spoken and sign language studies and robots as non-human subjects. The "WWW method" involves checking the adherence to Bell inequalities and marginal selectivity. The term "meaning bound" is introduced to quantify the extent to which two words influence each other's meaning within a combination. This concept proves instrumental in devising a method for assessing compositionality using the WWW method. Findings: When the WWW serves as the information space, the verification of whether a word combination adheres to Bell inequalities entails determining if the meaning bound for the word combination (AB & C) exceeds that of its constituent parts (A & C, B & C) within the conceptual combination AB. Marginal selectivity is evaluated by establishing a vector model for grammatically framed word combinations, utilizing the WWW to collect data. If the word combination 'A then B' yields an equivalent number of hits as 'B then A,' it signifies that the word combination AB satisfies marginal selectivity. Novelty: Consequently, this research presents an accessible approach to identifying entangled pairs of word combinations using the WWW method, eliminating the need for human subject experiments. The earlier studies which include human subjects are costly and cannot be replicated anytime-anywhere, for obvious reasons.

Keywords: Quantum cognition, Marginal selectivity, Compositionality, WWW method, CHSH inequality