Quantum consciousness, brains, and cognition

Quantum consciousness concerns both the possible role that quantum mechanicshas for understanding consciousness as well as the role that consciousnesshas for interpreting quantum physics. Quantum brain theorieshypothesize that quantum physical processes occur within and between theneurons of the brain and have important effects on cognition as well as consciousness.Quantum cognition is a growing new field in cognitive scienceconcerned with the application of the mathematical principles of quantumtheory to human judgment and decision-making behavior. What do all thesetheories have to do with each other? Quantum theories of consciousness havemore to say about quantum physics than cognitive psychology and consciousexperiences. Quantum brain theories have not been sufficiently “scaled up”to provide clear implications for how quantum physical processes generatemore complex cognition. Quantum cognition theories have avoided addressingfundamental issues about consciousness and have remained agnostic withrespect to the quantum brain hypothesis. This article will address the problemof connecting these ideas together by connecting quantum cognition tothe other two topics.