# The Quantum Nature of Identity in Human Thought: Bose-Einstein Statistics for Conceptual Indistinguishability

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/1410.6854 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/1410.6854/

## Key facts

- Cited by 5 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- First posted on arXiv 24 Oct 2014.

## Built on by (most cited first, 5 of 5)

- [A Planck Radiation and Quantization Scheme for Human Cognition and Language](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2201.03306/) (2022)
- [Are Words the Quanta of Human Language? Extending the Domain of Quantum Cognition](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2110.04913/) (2021)
- [Quantum Bose-Einstein Statistics for Indistinguishable Concepts in Human Language](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2103.15125/) (2021)
- [Identifying Quantum Structure in AI Language: Evidence for Evolutionary Convergence of Human and Artificial Cognition](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2511.21731/) (2025)
- [Development of a Thermodynamics of Human Cognition and Human Culture](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2212.12795/) (2022)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Increasing experimental evidence shows that humans combine concepts in a way that violates the rules of classical logic and probability theory. On the other hand, mathematical models inspired by the formalism of quantum theory are in accordance with data on concepts and their combinations. In this paper, we investigate a novel type of concept combination were a number is combined with a noun, e.g., `Eleven Animals. Our aim is to study 'conceptual identity' and the effects of 'indistinguishability' - in the combination 'Eleven Animals', the 'animals' are identical and indistinguishable - on the mechanisms of conceptual combination. We perform experiments on human subjects and find significant evidence of deviation from the predictions of classical statistical theories, more specifically deviations with respect to Maxwell-Boltzmann statistics. This deviation is of the 'same type' of the deviation of quantum mechanical from classical mechanical statistics, due to indistinguishability of microscopic quantum particles, i.e we find convincing evidence of the presence of Bose-Einstein statistics. We also present preliminary promising evidence of this phenomenon in a web-based study.