Decision Making and Modelling in Cognitive Science

“Roy’s book is a valid effort for specialists in decision theory and for those who explore the future of tools to support the processes involved in decision making, tools which will be located at the intersection of Individual and collective intelligence and social computing, in an area of knowledge that is defined as scientific and well-founded reflection advances and attempts to explain the correspondence between decisions and reality.” (Melio Sáenz, ResearchGate, researchgate.net, June, 2017)

This book discusses the paradigm of quantum ontology as an appropriate model for measuring cognitive processes. It clearly shows the inadequacy of the application of classical probability theory in modelling the human cognitive domain. The chapters investigate the context dependence and neuronal basis of cognition in a coherent manner. According to this framework, epistemological issues related to decision making and state of mind are seen to be similar to issues related to equanimity and neutral mind, as discussed in Buddhist perspective. The author states that quantum ontology as a modelling tool will help scientists create new methodologies of modelling in other streams of science as well.

Sisir Roy served as Professor at the Physics and Applied Mathematics Unit, Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata during 1980-2014. He is a quantum physicist and his interest includes foundations of quantum theory, cosmology and brain function modelling, and higher order cognitive activities. He has published more than 150 papers in peer reviewed international journals and 12 research monographs/edited volumes by Kluwer Academic, World Scientific, etc. Professor Roy has worked as a visiting professor in various universities of USA and Europe. He currently holds the T.V. Raman Pai Chair Visiting Professorship at the National Institute of Advanced Studies, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, India. His present focus of research is to pursue interdisciplinary research on quantum probability and cognitive science, information theory in living organisms, and neuroscience and consciousness.  His forthcoming monographs include topics like quantum effects in biology, and the role of noise in living organisms.