Editing Procedural knowledge (section)

=== 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>