KNOWLEDGE AND LEARNING

Learning is typically modelled as a domain-general, data driven, assoc iative process. Even though the potential influence of top-down knowle dge is often acknowledged, the typical theoretical approach postulates two separate modules for knowledge and learning. According to this vi ew, knowledge may influence the initial defaults and the output of the learning process but not the structure of the learning mechanism itse lf. In contrast to this modular approach, this article defends the pos ition that learning and prior knowledge interact. Theoretical analyses and empirical studies are presented that indicate that specific and a bstract domain knowledge influence the structure of the learning proce sses.