Two quantum modes interacting via local couplings to a dissipative bosonic field are investigated theoretically. The model considers two mechanical modes with distinct frequencies coupled optomechanically to the same cavity mode. The dissipative cavity field mediates the interaction between the mechanical modes but also leads to decoherence of the mechanical oscillators. Depending on the ratio between effective interaction strength and dissipation rate, which can be chosen via the pump detuning, the interaction assumes a quantum mechanical or classical character. The distinction between the two regimes is made by the ability of the mediated interaction to correlate the two mechanical modes non-classically. For any cavity decay, there is a regime where the two mechanical modes interact in a nonclassical way, which leads us to conclude that optomechanical systems can serve as a model to experimentally study the transition of effective interactions mediated by classical or quantum-mechanical fields.The emergence of a classical world from quantum theories remains a challenge to our understanding of physics. One important mechanism through which microscopic interactions manifest themselves in macroscopic effects is long-range forces, such as the Coulomb interaction or gravitation. In microscopic descriptions, Lorentz invariance requires these forces to be the result of modes coupling locally to "force carriers", such as the photon or the hypothetical graviton. Tracing out the mediating fieldwhose excitations are referred to as "virtual" since they cannot be directly measured -yields the effective longrange interaction.According to a recently proposed model, two bodies experiencing an effective, non-local interaction mediated by a classical, rather than a quantum field, will experience additional random forces due to the carrier's inability to create non-classical correlations [1]. This additional noise causes the position variances of the two interacting modes to increase at a rate larger than twice the effective coupling strength. In Ref.[2], the same bound was found starting from a different model, where the description of a classically mediated non-local interaction was based on quantum measurement theory. A field mediating a non-local interaction is a channel carrying information about the participating bodies across space. The authors of [1,2] draw the line between classically and quantum-mechanically interacting bodies at the ability of the force-carrier to transfer quantum information. If, for example, one of the bodies is in a non-classical superposition state, a quantum mechanical force-carrier would faithfully convey this and -in the appropriate basis -also be in a superposition state. A classical channel, however, could not transfer this quantum information and thus must carry additional noise affecting both participating bodies. Besides the fundamental question of a possible quantum character of gravitation, the classicality of an interaction is of practical importance to technological applications of quan...