Responses as phrasing cues in serial pattern learning with rats and humans

Researchers investigating how organisms learn patterns of information have dedicated much attention to determining how sequences that can be meaningfully organized are parsed during learning. Results have indicated that cues, often termed phrasing cues, from many domains, including visual, auditory, temporal, and spatial, can influence how patterns of information are interpreted and learned. For example, the sequence of numbers 123234345456 is made easier to learn when the cues imposed by experimenters (here, spaces) match the transitions between groups of related elements (i.e., chunks) in the sequence (i.e., 123 234 345 456). When such cues do not match the natural transitions of the pattern between chunks (i.e., 12 323 43 45 456), performance is not facilitated and instead is often hindered. Additionally, the placement of such cues can affect how the same sequence is encoded (i.e., runs: …234 345 456… vs. trills: …232 343 454…). Through four experiments, we explored the effect of incorporating responses as spatial phrasing cues on humans’ and rats’ pattern production. The results indicated that the spatial phrasing cues were interpreted as phrasing cues rather than as part of the structure of the pattern and that they facilitated performance when placed congruent to the natural structure of the sequence. Additionally, rats and humans appeared to use their own responses as phrasing cues.