Editing Procedural knowledge (section)

== Technical uses of the phrase ==

=== Artificial intelligence ===

In [[artificial intelligence]], procedural knowledge is a type of knowledge that can be possessed by an [[intelligent agent]].  Such knowledge is often represented as a partial or complete  [[finite-state machine]] or [[computer program]].  A well-known example is the [[procedural reasoning system]], which might, in the case of a mobile robot that navigates in a building, contain procedures such as "navigate to a room" or "plan a path".  In contrast, an AI system based on [[declarative knowledge]] might just contain a map of the building, together with information about the basic actions that can be done by the robot (like moving forward, turning, and stopping), and leave it to a domain-independent [[computer planning|planning algorithm]] to discover how to use those actions to achieve the agent's goals.

=== Cognitive psychology ===
{{main|Tacit knowledge}}

In [[cognitive psychology]], procedural knowledge is the knowledge exercised in the accomplishment of a task, and thus includes knowledge which, unlike [[declarative knowledge]], cannot be easily articulated by the individual, since it is typically subconscious (or tacit).  Many times, the individual learns procedural knowledge without being aware that they are learning.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Stadler|first1=Michael A.|title=On learning complex procedural knowledge.|journal=Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition|volume=15|issue=6|year=1989|pages=1061–1069|doi=10.1037/0278-7393.15.6.1061|pmid=2530306 }}</ref>  For example, most individuals can easily recognize a specific face as attractive or a specific joke as funny, but they cannot explain how exactly they arrived at that conclusion or they cannot provide a working definition of attractiveness or being funny. This example illustrates the difference between procedural knowledge and the ordinary notion of knowing how, a distinction which is acknowledged by many cognitive psychologists.<ref>Stillings, Neil; Weisler, Steven E. and Chase, Christopher H. (1995) ''Cognitive Science: An Introduction'', 2nd edition, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. p.&nbsp;396. {{isbn|0262691752}}</ref>

Ordinarily, we would not say that one who is able to recognize a face as attractive is one who knows how to recognize a face as attractive. One knows how to recognize faces as attractive no more than one knows how to recognize certain arrangements of [[Lepton|leptons]], [[Quark|quarks]], etc. as tables. Recognizing faces as attractive, like recognizing certain arrangements of leptons, quarks, etc. as tables, is simply something that one does, or is able to do. It is, therefore, an instance of procedural knowledge, but it is not an instance of know-how. In many cases, both forms of knowledge are subconscious.

For instance, research by cognitive psychologist [[Pawel Lewicki]] has shown that procedural knowledge can be acquired by subconscious processing of information about covariations.<ref Name="American Psychologist">Lewicki, Paul, Hill, Thomas, & Czyzewska, Maria (1992). Nonconscious acquisition of information. American Psychologist, 47, 796-801</ref>

=== Educational implications ===
In the classroom, procedural knowledge is part of the prior knowledge of a student. In the context of formal education procedural knowledge is what is learned about learning strategies.  It can be the "tasks specific rules, skills, actions, and sequences of actions employed to reach goals" a student uses in the classroom. As an example for procedural knowledge Cauley refers to how a child learns to count on their hands and/or fingers when first learning math.<ref>Cauley, K.M. (1986). [https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED278682 "Studying Knowledge Acquisition: Distinctions among Procedural, Conceptual and Logical Knowledge"]. 67th Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, San Francisco, CA, April 16–20, 1986.</ref> The Unified Learning Model<ref name="Shell et al, 2010">{{cite book|last=Shell|first=Duane|title=The Unified Learning Model|year=2010|publisher=Springer|isbn=978-90-481-3215-7}}</ref> explicates that procedural knowledge helps make learning more efficient by reducing the cognitive load of the task. In some educational approaches, particularly when working with students with learning disabilities, educators perform a [[task analysis]] followed by explicit instruction with the steps needed to accomplish the task.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Glaser|first1=Robert|title=Education and thinking: The role of knowledge.|journal=American Psychologist|volume=39|issue=2|year=1984|pages=93–104|url=https://apps.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a130532.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210630192910/https://apps.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a130532.pdf|url-status=live|archive-date=June 30, 2021|doi=10.1037/0003-066X.39.2.93}}</ref>

One advantage of procedural knowledge is that it can involve more [[sense]]s, such as hands-on experience, practice at solving problems, understanding of the limitations of a specific solution, etc. Thus procedural knowledge can frequently eclipse theory.

One limitation of procedural knowledge is its job-dependent nature. As a result, it tends to be less general than declarative knowledge. For example, a computer expert might have [[knowledge]] about a computer algorithm in multiple languages, or in pseudo-code, but a Visual Basic programmer might know only about a specific implementation of that algorithm, written in Visual Basic. Thus the 'hands-on' expertise and experience of the Visual Basic programmer might be of commercial value only to Microsoft job-shops, for example.{{citation needed|date=June 2020}}

=== Intellectual property law ===

In [[intellectual property]] law, procedural knowledge is a parcel of closely held information relating to industrial technology, sometimes also referred to as a [[trade secret]] which enables its user to derive commercial benefit from it. In some legal systems, such procedural knowledge has been considered the intellectual property of a company, and can be transferred when that company is purchased. It is a component of the intellectual property rights on its own merits in most legislations but most often accompanies the license to the right-of-use of [[patent]]s or [[trademark]]s owned by the party releasing it for circumscribed use. Procedural knowledge is not however solely composed of secret information that is not in the public domain; it is a "bundled" parcel of secret and related non-secret information which would be novel to an expert in the field of its usage.

===Industrial know-how===
In the context of [[industrial property]] (now generally viewed as [[intellectual property]] or IP), know-how is a component in the transfer of technology in national and international environments, co-existing with or separate from other IP rights such as [[patent]]s, [[trademark]]s and [[copyright]] and is an economic asset.<ref>Manual on Technology Transfer Negotiation, United Nations Industrial Development Organization (A Reference for Policy-makers and Practitioners on Technology Transfer), [[United Nations Industrial Development Organization]], [[Vienna, Austria]] (1996) {{ISBN|92-1-106302-7}}</ref> When it is transferred by itself, know-how should be converted into a [[trade secret]] before transfer in a legal agreement.

Know-how can be defined as confidentially held, or better, closely held information in the form of unpatented inventions, formulae, designs, drawings, procedures and methods, together with accumulated skills and experience in the hands of a licensor firm's professional personnel which could assist a transferee/licensee of the object product in its manufacture and use and bring to it a competitive advantage. It can be further supported with privately maintained expert knowledge on the operation, maintenance, use/application of the object product and of its sale, usage or disposition.

The inherent proprietary value of know-how is embedded in the legal protection afforded to [[trade secrets]] in general law, particularly, [[case law]].<ref>Licensing Guide for Developing Countries, [[World Intellectual Property Organization]] (WIPO), Geneva, 1977, {{ISBN|92-805-0395-2}}</ref> Know-how, in short, is private intellectual property which can be said to be a form of precursor to other intellectual property rights. The trade secret law varies from country to country, unlike the case for patents, trademarks and copyright for which there are formal conventions through which subscribing countries grant the same protection to the property as the others; examples of which are the [[Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property]] and the [[World Intellectual Property Organization]] (WIPO), under United Nations, a supportive organization designed "to encourage creative activity, [and] to promote the protection of intellectual property throughout the world".

The [[World Trade Organization]] defined a trade secret by the following criteria:<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/trips_e/t_agm3d_e.htm |title=TRIPS: Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (1995), Section 7: Protection of Undisclosed Information, Article 39(2) |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170120171319/https://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/trips_e/t_agm3d_e.htm |archive-date=2017-01-20 |access-date=2019-06-20 |website=wto.org |publisher=[[World Trade Organization]]}}</ref>

{{Quote|Natural and legal persons shall have the possibility of preventing information lawfully within their control from being disclosed to, acquired by, or used by others without their consent in a manner contrary to honest commercial practices (10) so long as such information: (a) is secret in the sense that it is not, as a body or in the precise configuration and assembly of its components, generally known among or readily accessible to persons within the circles that normally deal with the kind of information in question; (b) has commercial value because it is secret; and (c) has been subject to reasonable steps under the circumstances, by the person lawfully in control of the information, to keep it secret.}}

For purposes of illustration, the following may be a provision in a [[license agreement]] serving to define know-how:-

{{Quote|Know-how shall mean technical data, formulas, standards, technical information,  specifications, processes, methods, codebooks, raw materials, as well as all information, knowledge, assistance, trade practices and secrets, and improvements thereto,  divulged, disclosed,  or in any way communicated to the Licensee under this  Agreement, unless such information was, at the time of disclosure,  or thereafter becomes part of the general knowledge or literature which is generally available for public use from other lawful sources. The burden of proving that any  information  disclosed hereunder is not confidential information shall rest on the licensee.}}

===Disclosure agreements===
There are two sets of agreements associated with the transfer of know-how agreement: disclosure and non-disclosure agreements, which are not separately parts of the principal know-how agreement.{{citation needed|date=September 2008}}

The initial need for disclosure is due to the requirement of a licensee firm to know what is the specific, unique, or general content of the know-how that a licensor firm possesses that promises value to the licensee on entering into a contract. Disclosure also aids the potential licensee in selecting among competitive offers, if any. Such disclosures are made by licensors only under non-disclosure or confidentiality agreements in which there are express undertakings that should the ultimate license not materialize, the firm to whom the disclosure is made will not reveal, or by any manner apply, any part of the disclosed knowledge which is not in the public domain or previously known to the firm receiving the information.

Non-disclosure agreements are undertaken by those who receive confidential information from the licensee, relating to licensed know-how, so as to perform their tasks. Among them are the personnel of engineering firms who construct the plant for the licensee or those who are key employees of the licensee who have detailed access to disclosed data, etc. to administer their functions in operating the know-how-based plant. These are also in the nature of confidentiality agreements and carry the definition of know-how, in full or truncated part, on a need-to-know basis.

=== Employee knowledge ===
{{norefs|section|date=February 2025}}
Under [[English law]], employees have duties of [[good faith]] and [[fidelity]] until their [[termination of employment|employment ceases]], whence only the former still applies.

It is sometimes unclear what forms of "know how" that was divulged to an employee in order to carry out their functions and then becomes their own knowledge rather than a secret of their previous employer. Some employers will specify in their employment contracts that a [[grace period]] will apply to know how that starts when a person leaves them as an employee.

Specifying exactly what information this includes would increase the likelihood of it being upheld in court in the event of a breach, i.e. saying "when your employment contract is terminated, you must keep all information about your previous employment with us secret for four years" would be difficult to support because that person has to be able to use the skills and knowledge they learnt to gain employment elsewhere.