title: Quantum walks in brain microtubules--a biomolecular basis for quantum cognition?
abstract: Cognitive decisions are best described by quantum mathematics. Do quantum information devices operate in the brain? What would they look like? Fuss and Navarro () describe quantum lattice registers in which quantum superpositioned pathways interact (compute/integrate) as 'quantum walks' akin to Feynman's path integral in a lattice (e.g. the 'Feynman quantum chessboard'). Simultaneous alternate pathways eventually reduce (collapse), selecting one particular pathway in a cognitive decision, or choice. This paper describes how quantum walks in a Feynman chessboard are conceptually identical to 'topological qubits' in brain neuronal microtubules, as described in the Penrose-Hameroff 'Orch OR' theory of consciousness.
authors.affiliation: University of Arizona Medical Center, Tuscon, AZ.
authors.forename: Stuart
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hameroff
mesh_terms: D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology*; D003071:Cognition; D003657:Decision Making / Q000502:physiology*; D008870:Microtubules / Q000502:physiology*; D008959:Models, Neurological; D011789:Quantum Theory
keywords: Agency; Consciousness; Dendritic integration; Microtubules; Orch OR; Quantum cognition; Quantum walk; Tubulin; Volition