{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,10]],"date-time":"2025-10-10T01:38:16Z","timestamp":1760060296284,"version":"build-2065373602"},"reference-count":16,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"8","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,8,15]],"date-time":"2025-08-15T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1755216000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/100006602","name":"Air Force Office of Scientific Research","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["FA9550-23-1-0258"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["FA9550-23-1-0258"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100006602","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"name":"Queensland University of Technology Indigenous Australian Research Training Scheme","award":["FA9550-23-1-0258"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["FA9550-23-1-0258"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Entropy"],"abstract":"<jats:p>This paper describes a crowdsourced experiment in which participants were asked to judge which of two simultaneously presented facial images (one real, one AI-generated) was fake. With the growing presence of synthetic imagery in digital environments, cognitive systems must adapt to novel and often deceptive visual stimuli. Recent developments in cognitive science propose that some mental processes may exhibit quantum-like characteristics, particularly in their context sensitivity. Drawing on Tezzin\u2019s \u201cgeneralized fair coin\u201d model, this study applied Contextuality-by-Default (CbD) theory to investigate whether human judgments of human faces exhibit quantum-like contextuality. Across 20 trials, each treated as a \u201cgeneralized coin\u201d, bootstrap resampling (10,000 iterations per coin) revealed that nine trials demonstrated quantum-like contextuality. Notably, Coin 4 exhibited strong context-sensitive causal asymmetry, where both the real and synthetic faces elicited inverse judgments due to their unusually strong resemblance to one another. These results support the growing evidence that cognitive judgments are sometimes quantum-like contextual, suggesting that adopting comparative strategies, such as evaluating unfamiliar faces alongside known-real exemplars, may enhance accuracy in detecting synthetic images. Such pairwise methods align with the strengths of human perception and may inform future interventions, user interfaces, or educational tools aimed at improving visual judgment under uncertainty.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/e27080868","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,8,15]],"date-time":"2025-08-15T16:09:55Z","timestamp":1755274195000},"page":"868","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Are Human Judgments of Real and Fake Faces Quantum-like Contextual?"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"27","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-7999-0534","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Peter","family":"Bruza","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Science, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane 4000, Australia"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0002-4805-8626","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Aaron","family":"Lee","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Science, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane 4000, Australia"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-5021-7000","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Pamela","family":"Hoyte","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Science, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane 4000, Australia"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,8,15]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"101529","DOI":"10.1016\/j.cogpsych.2022.101529","article-title":"Contextuality and context-sensitivity in probabilistic models of cognition","volume":"140","author":"Bruza","year":"2023","journal-title":"Cogn. Psychol."},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"e2120481119","DOI":"10.1073\/pnas.2120481119","article-title":"AI-synthesized Faces are Indistinguishable from Real and More Trustworthy","volume":"119","author":"Nightingale","year":"2022","journal-title":"Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA"},{"key":"ref_3","unstructured":"Tezzin, A. (2021). On possible explanations for quantum contextuality. arXiv."},{"key":"ref_4","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"73","DOI":"10.1007\/s10699-023-09928-7","article-title":"Violating the KCBS inequality with a toy mechanism","volume":"30","author":"Tezzin","year":"2025","journal-title":"Found. Sci."},{"key":"ref_5","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"264","DOI":"10.1038\/nphys2916","article-title":"Nonlocality beyond quantum mechanics","volume":"10","author":"Popescu","year":"2014","journal-title":"Nat. Phys."},{"key":"ref_6","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Dzhafarov, E. (2021). Contents, Contexts, and Basics of Contextuality. arXiv.","DOI":"10.1007\/978-3-030-92192-7_16"},{"key":"ref_7","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"95","DOI":"10.1093\/bjps\/45.1.95","article-title":"George Boole\u2019s \u201cConditions of Possible Experience\u201d and the Quantum Puzzle","volume":"45","author":"Pitowsky","year":"1994","journal-title":"Br. J. Philos. Sci."},{"key":"ref_8","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Busemeyer, J., and Bruza, P. (2012). Quantum Models of Cognition and Decision, Cambridge University Press.","DOI":"10.1017\/CBO9780511997716"},{"key":"ref_9","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"20150099","DOI":"10.1098\/rsta.2015.0099","article-title":"Is there contextuality in behavioral and social systems?","volume":"374","author":"Dzhafarov","year":"2015","journal-title":"Philos. Trans. R. Soc. A"},{"key":"ref_10","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1925","DOI":"10.1037\/xge0000585","article-title":"True contextuality beats direct influences in human decision making","volume":"148","author":"Basieva","year":"2019","journal-title":"J. Exp. Psychol. Gen."},{"key":"ref_11","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Busemeyer, J.R., and Bruza, P. (2025). Quantum Models of Cognition and Decision: Principles and Applications, Cambridge University Press. [2nd ed.].","DOI":"10.1017\/9781009205351"},{"key":"ref_12","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Kujala, J.V., and Dzhafarov, E.N. (2016). Probabilistic contextuality in EPR\/Bohm-type systems with signaling allowed. Contextuality from Quantum Physics to Psychology, World Scientific.","DOI":"10.1142\/9789814730617_0012"},{"key":"ref_13","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Khrennikova, P. (2025). Measuring contextuality in investment preferences. Annals of Operations Research, Springer.","DOI":"10.1007\/s10479-025-06630-8"},{"key":"ref_14","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"11087","DOI":"10.1073\/pnas.0805664105","article-title":"The functional basis of face evaluation","volume":"105","author":"Oosterhof","year":"2008","journal-title":"Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA"},{"key":"ref_15","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"813","DOI":"10.1521\/soco.2009.27.6.813","article-title":"Evaluating faces on trustworthiness after minimal time exposure","volume":"27","author":"Todorov","year":"2009","journal-title":"Soc. Cogn."},{"key":"ref_16","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"063032","DOI":"10.1088\/1367-2630\/18\/6\/063032","article-title":"Quantum causal modelleing","volume":"18","author":"Costa","year":"2016","journal-title":"New J. Phys."}],"container-title":["Entropy"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/1099-4300\/27\/8\/868\/pdf","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,9]],"date-time":"2025-10-09T18:28:35Z","timestamp":1760034515000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/1099-4300\/27\/8\/868"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2025,8,15]]},"references-count":16,"journal-issue":{"issue":"8","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,8]]}},"alternative-id":["e27080868"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/e27080868","relation":{},"ISSN":["1099-4300"],"issn-type":[{"type":"electronic","value":"1099-4300"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2025,8,15]]}}}