Why do some memories feel crystal clear while others seem muddled or out of order? And why do our emotions play such a powerful role in shaping what we remember and what we get wrong? These are the questions at the heart of a fascinating new research project at Newcastle University, which is taking an unexpected approach to understanding the human mind: quantum mathematics.
The project, called Quantum Emotions, has been awarded £1.2 million by UK Research and Innovation, a major government funding body. The team will bring together psychology, neuroscience, and the mathematical tools of quantum physics to explore how emotional experiences affect our memories, not just what we remember, but the order we remember things in.
Why Do Emotions Scramble Our Memories?
Think about a time something emotional happened to you, like an argument, a moment of joy, a frightening experience. Chances are you can recall certain details vividly, while others feel hazy or jumbled. The sequence of events might not quite add up. It’s not just you. It’s a well-documented feature of how human memory works.
Our memories are not like video recordings. They are reconstructions, and emotions can reshape and distort them in ways that are hard to predict. The order in which we remember things (known as temporal order) is particularly vulnerable to emotional interference. That order matters, because it is what gives our memories a narrative structure and helps us make sense of our own lives.
Where Does Quantum Physics Come In?
At first glance, quantum physics — the branch of science that describes the behaviour of subatomic particles — might seem to have nothing to do with human emotions. But it is not the physics itself that the Newcastle team is borrowing. It is the mathematics.
Quantum theory has a unique mathematical feature: it is specifically designed to handle situations where the order of events changes the outcome. That turns out to be surprisingly relevant to memory. When emotions are involved, the sequence in which we experience or recall things can dramatically alter what we end up remembering.
Dr Jonte Hance, Head of the Quantum Group at Newcastle University, explained the appeal of this approach: “This is an exciting opportunity to use ideas from quantum theory to model systems outside of physics, like emotional memory, where the order of events really matters.”
Traditional psychological models have struggled to fully capture these kinds of complex memory behaviours. Quantum formalism offers a new set of tools that may be able to model them more accurately.
Real-World Applications
This is not just theoretical. The researchers believe their work could have practical benefits in several important areas.
As we age, memory changes and understanding how emotional memories are stored and retrieved could help us develop better tools for supporting people with age-related memory conditions. In mental health, many conditions such as PTSD involve deeply distorted emotional memories, and better models of how those distortions form could open new avenues for treatment.
There are also implications for the criminal justice system, where the accuracy of eyewitness testimony, which is heavily influenced by the emotional intensity of an event, can have life-changing consequences.
Dr Barbara-Anne Robertson, a Lecturer in Newcastle University’s School of Psychology and the project’s lead researcher, described the broader ambitions of the work: “We are thrilled to receive this prestigious UKRI grant, which places Newcastle University at the heart of the rapidly growing field of Quantum Cognition.
“Through collaborations with world-leading experts in Japan and Sweden, we will develop quantum models to explore how emotions shape the organisation of our memories. This funding will allow us to create new tools for understanding emotional memory, with potential applications in ageing, mental health, and the criminal justice system. The project will also push the boundaries of physics by applying quantum formalism to complex, real-world cognitive processes in ways that have never been done before.”
Building a New Field
Beyond the research itself, the team plans to host workshops and events to help build a national network of scientists working in the emerging field of Quantum Cognition. The goal is to encourage collaboration, train a new generation of researchers, and lay the groundwork for even larger future studies.
It is a reminder that some of the most exciting scientific breakthroughs come not from within a single discipline, but from the unexpected connections between them.