A quantum model for serial reproduction

Abstract

We propose a novel quantum walk framework for modeling serial reproduction, designed to effectively capture the transmission of inherently vague concepts, such as emotions and ideas, through quantum superpositions and controlled unitary operations. In a comprehensive comparison with Bayesian models using the largest dataset of reproduced narratives to date, our framework demonstrates superior predictive accuracy, surpassing Bayesian approaches in modeling non-linear relationships and multimodal distributions in emotion transmission. Furthermore, it successfully replicates recent key findings on emotion transmission in serial reproduction.