A quantum-like benchmark for context-sensitive associative memory with adaptive plasticity

Abstract

Learning and memory require a balance between plasticity and stability: synaptic connections must encode new information without collapsing, saturating, or erasing previously useful structure. Associative-memory models can appear to learn successfully when fixed background connectivity already carries part of the task, making it difficult to distinguish genuine recall dynamics from structural assistance. We test this issue using an order-sensitive adaptive-plasticity benchmark for staged associative recall. The benchmark compares a quantum-like associative-memory model with matched real-valued no-phase and Markov-rate controls under the same task schedule, perturbation profiles, weak-support conditions, and plasticity settings. Here, "quantum-like" refers to the modeling formalism, not to a biological claim about quantum computation. We first screen weak structural support and then fix a conservative operating point for factorial comparisons across model families and plasticity mechanisms. The useful weak-support regime is narrow and non-monotonic. Weak structure alone does not rescue recall in the no-plasticity ablation, whereas most useful recall gains arise from adaptive plasticity, especially homeostatic stabilization. The Markov-rate control often achieves stronger raw recall, but the quantum-like model more consistently preserves order sensitivity and stage-dependent organization. These results do not support a universal quantum-like advantage. Instead, they show that model classes are better distinguished by a multi-objective profile combining recall, temporal organization, and context sensitivity than by any single recall score. The benchmark therefore provides a controlled framework for studying context-sensitive memory dynamics under weak support, regulated plasticity, and matched classical comparison.