Which term refers to knowledge about how the world is organized, stored in the mind, and used in reasoning?

• A. Prior knowledge
• B. Procedural knowledge
• C. Declarative knowledge
• D. Episodic knowledge

Answer: (A)

This question is about the knowledge you bring to a situation—the information about how the world is organized, stored in your mind, and used to reason through problems. That broad kind of understanding is prior knowledge. It’s the background you rely on to interpret new information, recognize patterns, and decide how to approach a task. It lives in long-term memory as schemas and general understanding, and it guides what you pay attention to and how you connect new facts to what you already know.

For example, in solving a science question, your prior knowledge about scientific concepts helps you organize the new details and form a logical explanation. This differs from procedural knowledge, which is about how to do something, declarative knowledge, which is knowing facts, and episodic knowledge, which is memories of personal experiences. So the best fit is prior knowledge.