Knowledge goes beyond memory, forming a rich and detailed understanding of your world. But you can know too much
One of the brain's most useful features is the ability to absorb pieces of information and make connections between them. Knowledge really is power: a little can be a dangerous thing and the more you know the better equipped you are to deal with life.
But what exactly is knowledge? How are facts stored, organised and recalled when needed?
Knowledge obviously relies on memory – in particular the type of memory that stores general information about objects, places, facts and people, known as semantic memory. This is the part of memory which knows that Paris is the capital of France, a constitutional republic in western Europe – but not the part which stores memories of a weekend break there.
Knowledge isn't so much about what information ...
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