Context-content systems of random variables: the contextuality-by-default theory

DOI10.1016/J.JMP.2016.04.010zbMATH Open1396.91663arXiv1511.03516OpenAlexW2963882263WikidataQ110235346 ScholiaQ110235346MaRDI QIDQ334449FDOQ334449

Authors: Ehtibar N. Dzhafarov, Janne V. Kujala 

Publication date: 1 November 2016

Published in: Journal of Mathematical Psychology (Search for Journal in Brave)

Abstract: This paper provides a systematic yet accessible presentation of the Contextuality-by-Default theory. The consideration is confined to finite systems of categorical random variables, which allows us to focus on the basics of the theory without using full-scale measure-theoretic language. Contextuality-by-Default is a theory of random variables identified by their contents and their contexts, so that two variables have a joint distribution if and only if they share a context. Intuitively, the content of a random variable is the entity the random variable measures or responds to, while the context is formed by the conditions under which these measurements or responses are obtained. A system of random variables consists of stochastically unrelated "bunches," each of which is a set of jointly distributed random variables sharing a context. The variables that have the same content in different contexts form "connections" between the bunches. A probabilistic coupling of this system is a set of random variables obtained by imposing a joint distribution on the stochastically unrelated bunches. A system is considered noncontextual or contextual according to whether it can or cannot be coupled so that the joint distributions imposed on its connections possess a certain property (in the present version of the theory, "maximality"). We present a criterion of contextuality for a special class of systems of random variables, called cyclic systems. We also introduce a general measure of contextuality that makes use of (quasi-)couplings whose distributions may involve negative numbers or numbers greater than 1 in place of probabilities.

Full work available at URL: https://arxiv.org/abs/1511.03516

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zbMATH Keywords

random variablesconnectednesscontextualitycouplings

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Applications of statistics to psychology (62P15) Measurement and performance in psychology (91E45) Contextuality in quantum theory (81P13)

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• Non-locality, contextuality and valuation algebras: a general theory of disagreement
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• Is contextuality about the identity of random variables?
• Generalized Fock space and contextuality
• True contextuality in a psychophysical experiment
• Stochastic unrelatedness, couplings, and contextuality
• Gödel, Escher, Bell: contextual semantics of logical paradoxes
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• An invitation to coupling and copulas: with applications to multisensory modeling
• Negative probabilities and contextuality
• Quantum like modeling of decision making: quantifying uncertainty with the aid of Heisenberg-Robertson inequality
• Preparation and measurement in quantum memory models
• Advanced analysis of quantum contextuality in a psychophysical double-detection experiment
• Replacing Nothing with Something Special: Contextuality-by-Default and Dummy Measurements
• A note on the relation between the contextual fraction and \(\mathrm{CNT}_2\)
• Contextuality in canonical systems of random variables
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• Measures of contextuality and non-contextuality
• On joint distributions, counterfactual values and hidden variables in understanding contextuality
• Minimal distance to approximating noncontextual system as a measure of contextuality

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