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Study Links School and Everyday Knowledge to One Ability

7/12/2026

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Summary

Story summary

German researchers found that school-based and everyday knowledge depend on a single underlying mental ability.
Altgassen and Hartung surveyed 348 German adults aged 30-40 with a 60-question school test and a 66-question everyday test.
The two test scores correlated perfectly, indicating no separation between the knowledge types.
General curiosity predicted equal performance on both tests regardless of school or life source.

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Story summary

German researchers found that school-based and everyday knowledge depend on a single underlying mental ability.
Altgassen and Hartung surveyed 348 German adults aged 30-40 with a 60-question school test and a 66-question everyday test.
The two test scores correlated perfectly, indicating no separation between the knowledge types.
General curiosity predicted equal performance on both tests regardless of school or life source.