https://doi.org/10.1140/epjp/s13360-026-07573-0
Regular Article
Quantum interference as a non-coercive mechanism for social consensus and collective memory formation
1
Department of Physics, Higher Teacher Training College, University of Bamenda, P.O. Box 11, Bambili, Cameroon
2
Department of Physics, Faculty of science, University of Bamenda, P.O. Box 39, Bambili, Cameroon
3
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Collegue of Technology, University of Buea, P.O. Box 63, Buea, Cameroon
4
Research Unit Condensed Matter, Electronics and Signal Processing, University of Dschang, P.O. Box 67, Dschang, Cameroon
5
Quantum materials and Computing Group (QMaCG), P.O. Box 70, Bambili-Bamenda, Bambili, Cameroon
a
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Received:
9
November
2025
Accepted:
12
March
2026
Published online:
29
March
2026
Abstract
This work establishes a unified quantum many-body framework for modeling collective memory and ideological consensus. The cognitive states of social agents evolve under psychometric exposure, which is a time-dependent perturbation that encodes cognitive repetition, somatic feedback and adiabatic variation. This drives a gradual, memory-dependent update of internal ideological landscapes via continuous eigenstate following, or psychic adaptation. The model identifies cognitive repetition as an inherent quantum interference phenomenon. Critically, sociocognitive dynamics reveal the following: (i) scale-dependent outcomes, whereby large groups achieve consensus via destructive interference, while small groups decohere into mixed states; (ii) collective memory as an interference signature with hysteretic path dependence in opinion trajectories. Here, loop width quantifies adaptation reversibility and historical encoding; (iii) parameter-controlled interference, whereby repetitive exposure can induce either constructive interference, which preserves initial ideologies, or destructive interference, which drives population inversion and ideological transformation; (iv) cognitive repetition as an interference engine, whereby repetition actively reshapes the collective cognitive wave function via phase-coherent driving; and (v) robustness to heterogeneity, whereby interference patterns persist across diverse social topologies. Here, disparity and connectivity modulate the landscape without abolishing tunability. These results provide a formal quantum-theoretic basis for non-coercive social influence, wherein leaders condition perceptual landscapes rather than dictate outcomes. The model recasts collective memory formation as quantum control over many-body interference patterns, bridging quantum theory with social decision-making and offering testable predictions for network dynamics, group therapy efficacy, and ideological entrenchment. This framework suggests that quantum interference and adiabatic adaptation may fundamentally underlie high-level collective cognition.
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© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Società Italiana di Fisica and Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2026
Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
