Serial learning: a review of the behavioral and physiological research with the rat

The literature on the behavioral effects of manipulations in the length, complexity, interrun interval and intertrial interval of serial patterns presented to rats is selectively reviewed. The dominant theories of serial learning in rats are summarized and the evidence for each provided. Included in the discussion of rat serial learning are the theoretical models of: (a) Capaldi and associates who suggest that rats learn stimulus-stimulus associations, whereby each element in a series signals each succeeding element [e.g., (14)], (b) Hulse and associates who suggest that rats generate a specific rule defining the formal structure of a serial pattern [e.g., (55,56)], and (c) Roitblat, Pologe, and Scopatz (73) who suggest that rats may not learn either a specific rule or stimulus-stimulus associations. Instead, the rat develops knowledge of the serial position of an element's position in the list. In addition, the role of position cues and enumeration as dominant strategies are considered. Finally, the effects of manipulations in brain physiology on rat serial learning is discussed.