arXiv subjects

Ru Zhang

Publications and source records attributed to Ru Zhang.

59 records · Page 4Linked to original sources

arXiv2016

Testing Contextuality in Cyclic Psychophysical Systems of High Ranks

The Contextuality-by-Default (CbD) theory allows one to separate contextuality from context-dependent errors and violations of selective influences (aka "no-signaling" or "no-disturbance" principles). This makes the theory especially applicable to behavioral systems, where violations of selective influences are ubiquitous. For cyclic systems with binary random variables, CbD provides necessary and sufficient conditions for noncontextuality, and these conditions are known to be breached in certain quantum systems. We apply the theory of cyclic systems to a psychophysical double-detection experiment, in which observers were asked to determine presence or absence of a signal property in each of two simultaneously presented stimuli. The results, as in all other behavioral and social systems previous analyzed, indicate lack of contextuality. The role of context in double-detection is confined to lack of selectiveness: the distribution of responses to one of the stimuli is influenced by the state of the other stimulus.

q-bio.NC↗

arXiv2016

On Contextuality in Behavioral Data

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)contextuality, as well as between the traditional and extended definitions of (non)contextuality, using as an example the Clauser-Horn-Shimony-Holt (CHSH) inequalities originally designed for detecting contextuality in entangled particles.

q-bio.NC↗

arXiv2015

Is there contextuality in behavioral and social systems?

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 "everything with everything" are ubiquitous. For cyclic systems with binary outcomes the theory provides necessary and sufficient conditions for noncontextuality, and these conditions are known to be breached in certain quantum systems. We review several behavioral and social data sets (from polls of public opinion to visual illusions to conjoint choices to word combinations to psychophysical matching), and none of these data provides any evidence for contextuality. Our working hypothesis is that this may be a broadly applicable rule: behavioral and social systems are noncontextual, i.e., all "contextual effects" in them result from the ubiquitous dependence of response distributions on the elements of contexts other than the ones to which the response is presumably or normatively directed.

q-bio.NC↗

arXiv2015

Noncontextuality with Marginal Selectivity in Reconstructing Mental Architectures

We present a general theory of series-parallel mental architectures with selectively influenced stochastically non-independent components. A mental architecture is a hypothetical network of processes aimed at performing a task, of which we only observe the overall time it takes under variable parameters of the task. It is usually assumed that the network contains several processes selectively influenced by different experimental factors, and then the question is asked as to how these processes are arranged within the network, e.g., whether they are concurrent or sequential. One way of doing this is to consider the distribution functions for the overall processing time and compute certain linear combinations thereof (interaction contrasts). The theory of selective influences in psychology can be viewed as a special application of the interdisciplinary theory of (non)contextuality having its origins and main applications in quantum theory. In particular, lack of contextuality is equivalent to the existence of a "hidden" random entity of which all the random variables in play are functions. Consequently, for any given value of this common random entity, the processing times and their compositions (minima, maxima, or sums) become deterministic quantities. These quantities, in turn, can be treated as random variables with (shifted) Heaviside distribution functions, for which one can easily compute various linear combinations across different treatments, including interaction contrasts. This mathematical fact leads to a simple method, more general than the previously used ones, to investigate and characterize the interaction contrast for different types of series-parallel architectures.

q-bio.NC↗

arXiv2010

Testing and Data Reduction of the Chinese Small Telescope Array (CSTAR) for Dome A, Antarctica

The Chinese Small Telescope ARray (hereinafter CSTAR) is the first Chinese astronomical instrument on the Antarctic ice cap. The low temperature and low pressure testing of the data acquisition system was carried out in a laboratory refrigerator and on the 4500m Pamirs high plateau, respectively. The results from the final four nights of test observations demonstrated that CSTAR was ready for operation at Dome A, Antarctica. In this paper we present a description of CSTAR and the performance derived from the test observations.

astro-ph.IM↗