Quantum Model for Conjoint Recognition

In a conjoint memory recognition task, a person is presented a list of target items to remember. Afterwards, a test probe is presented which is sampled from one of three mutually exclusive and exhaustive categories: one is a target from the set of previously presented targets; a second is a non target but meaningfully related to a target; and a third is a non target and unrelated to any target. The episodic overestimate effect refers to the fact that the probability of accepting a probe when asked if it is a target plus the probability of accepting a probe when asked if it is a related non target is greater than the probability of accepting a probe when asked if it is either a target or a non related target. Logically these two probabilities should be identical. Previously these results were explained by a dual process theory. This article presents an alternative quantum memory recognition model for this effect that addresses some problematic issues that arise with the dual process explanation.