Interactive tasks and the implicit‐explicit distinction

Two experiments explore the relationship between implicit and explicit processes in the acquisition of complex knowledge. Their purpose is twofold. Firstly, to specify some of the variables that control whether or not performance and explicit knowledge will be associated when people interact with computer‐implemented control tasks. Secondly, to clarify the relationships between implicit and explicit modes of learning on the one hand and implicit and explicit types of knowledge on the other. The experiments show that salience of the relationship between decision and action is a crucial factor in relation to both the distinction between implicit and explicit learning and the distinction between implict and explicit knowledge.