Search results for " 81Q99"
showing 10 items of 12 documents
On Contextuality in Behavioral Data
2015
Dzhafarov, Zhang, and Kujala (Phil. Trans. Roy. Soc. A 374, 20150099) reviewed several behavioral data sets imitating the formal design of the quantum-mechanical contextuality experiments. The conclusion was that none of these data sets exhibited contextuality if understood in the generalized sense proposed in Dzhafarov, Kujala, and Larsson (Found. Phys. 7, 762-782, 2015), while the traditional definition of contextuality does not apply to these data because they violate the condition of consistent connectedness (also known as marginal selectivity, no-signaling condition, no-disturbance principle, etc.). In this paper we clarify the relationship between (in)consistent connectedness and (non…
Order-distance and other metric-like functions on jointly distributed random variables
2013
We construct a class of real-valued nonnegative binary functions on a set of jointly distributed random variables, which satisfy the triangle inequality and vanish at identical arguments (pseudo-quasi-metrics). These functions are useful in dealing with the problem of selective probabilistic causality encountered in behavioral sciences and in quantum physics. The problem reduces to that of ascertaining the existence of a joint distribution for a set of variables with known distributions of certain subsets of this set. Any violation of the triangle inequality or its consequences by one of our functions when applied to such a set rules out the existence of this joint distribution. We focus on…
Is there contextuality in behavioural and social systems?
2015
Most behavioral and social experiments aimed at revealing contextuality are confined to cyclic systems with binary outcomes. In quantum physics, this broad class of systems includes as special cases Klyachko-Can-Binicioglu-Shumovsky-type, Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen-Bell-type, and Suppes-Zanotti-Leggett-Garg-type systems. The theory of contextuality known as Contextuality-by-Default allows one to define and measure contextuality in all such system, even if there are context-dependent errors in measurements, or if something in the contexts directly interacts with the measurements. This makes the theory especially suitable for behavioral and social systems, where direct interactions of "everythin…
Proof of a Conjecture on Contextuality in Cyclic Systems with Binary Variables
2015
We present a proof for a conjecture previously formulated by Dzhafarov, Kujala, and Larsson (Foundations of Physics, in press, arXiv:1411.2244). The conjecture specifies a measure for the degree of contextuality and a criterion (necessary and sufficient condition) for contextuality in a broad class of quantum systems. This class includes Leggett-Garg, EPR/Bell, and Klyachko-Can-Binicioglu-Shumovsky type systems as special cases. In a system of this class certain physical properties $q_{1},...,q_{n}$ are measured in pairs $(q_{i},q_{j})$; every property enters in precisely two such pairs; and each measurement outcome is a binary random variable. Denoting the measurement outcomes for a proper…
Probabilistic foundations of contextuality
2017
Contextuality is usually defined as absence of a joint distribution for a set of measurements (random variables) with known joint distributions of some of its subsets. However, if these subsets of measurements are not disjoint, contextuality is mathematically impossible even if one generally allows (as one must) for random variables not to be jointly distributed. To avoid contradictions one has to adopt the Contextuality-by-Default approach: measurements made in different contexts are always distinct and stochastically unrelated to each other. Contextuality is reformulated then in terms of the (im)possibility of imposing on all the measurements in a system a joint distribution of a particul…
Contextuality in canonical systems of random variables
2017
Random variables representing measurements, broadly understood to include any responses to any inputs, form a system in which each of them is uniquely identified by its content (that which it measures) and its context (the conditions under which it is recorded). Two random variables are jointly distributed if and only if they share a context. In a canonical representation of a system, all random variables are binary, and every content-sharing pair of random variables has a unique maximal coupling (the joint distribution imposed on them so that they coincide with maximal possible probability). The system is contextual if these maximal couplings are incompatible with the joint distributions o…
Necessary and Sufficient Conditions for an Extended Noncontextuality in a Broad Class of Quantum Mechanical Systems
2015
The notion of (non)contextuality pertains to sets of properties measured one subset (context) at a time. We extend this notion to include so-called inconsistently connected systems, in which the measurements of a given property in different contexts may have different distributions, due to contextual biases in experimental design or physical interactions (signaling): a system of measurements has a maximally noncontextual description if they can be imposed a joint distribution on in which the measurements of any one property in different contexts are equal to each other with the maximal probability allowed by their different distributions. We derive necessary and sufficient conditions for th…
Probabilistic Contextuality in EPR/Bohm-type Systems with Signaling Allowed
2014
In this chapter, we review a principled way of defining and measuring contextuality in systems with deterministic inputs and random outputs, recently proposed and developed in \citep{KujalaDzhafarovLarsson2015,DKL2015FooP}.
Contextuality-by-Default: A Brief Overview of Ideas, Concepts, and Terminology
2015
This paper is a brief overview of the concepts involved in measuring the degree of contextuality and detecting contextuality in systems of binary measurements of a finite number of objects. We discuss and clarify the main concepts and terminology of the theory called "contextuality-by-default," and then discuss a possible generalization of the theory from binary to arbitrary measurements.
Contextuality-by-Default 2.0: Systems with Binary Random Variables
2016
The paper outlines a new development in the Contextuality-by-Default theory as applied to finite systems of binary random variables. The logic and principles of the original theory remain unchanged, but the definition of contextuality of a system of random variables is now based on multimaximal rather than maximal couplings of the variables that measure the same property in different contexts: a system is considered noncontextual if these multimaximal couplings are compatible with the distributions of the random variables sharing contexts. A multimaximal coupling is one that is a maximal coupling of any subset (equivalently, of any pair) of the random variables being coupled. Arguments are …