ABSTRACT
This chapter begins by reviewing the many studies that have addressed the issue of the accessibility of control task knowledge. It considers whether there is other evidence for a distinction between implicit and explicit modes of learning in relation to the control of complex systems. Verbalisable knowledge was tested by multiple-choice questions that asked about both the direct relationships and the crossed relationships. The knowledge gained as a result of interacting with a complex learning task is likely to involve both implicit and explicit aspects, rather than being solely one or the other. A transfer task was devised which showed that such knowledge was apparent if tested for as a continuation of the computer task. An interesting finding, however, was that subjects who made decisions for the experimenter to type in on the first set of trials performed as well on that set as control subjects who carried out the entire task themselves.
