Deep Knowledge

Knowledge of a topic is deep when a person has developed many interconnections among central and peripheral concepts related to the topic.

For example, deep knowledge of the topic of memory includes knowledge about how the sensory-memory subsystem, the working-memory subsystem, and the long-term memory subsystem interact; about the components of each memory subsystem and how they interact with each other as well as with the components of other memory subsystems; about the influences on each type of memory subsystem and on each component of each memory subsystem; etc.

Deep knowledge cannot be gained through passive rote memorization. Instead, it requires that one actively apply the concepts to specific examples and novel situations.