Knowledge and knowledge gaps in semantic memory of technical artifacts

Abstract

Two hypotheses have been considered regarding the relation between knowledge and semantic knowledge gaps: a “knowledge clash” hypothesis predicting more awareness of knowledge gaps with increasing knowledge, and a “knowledge deficit” hypothesis whereby the relation is the opposite. In order to examine these hypotheses, graduate and undergraduate students were asked to state what they knew and what they did not know about a sample of familiar and unfamiliar artifacts. None of the above hypotheses accounted for the results. Instead, knowledge was found to be differently related to various types of unknown features: increasing knowledge was related to less unknown features of the artifacts' function and to more unknown features about contingency relations. Unknown features of the artifacts’ behaviors were frequently reported in the two knowledge conditions. The results suggest new strands of research on the metacognition of “not knowing.”