Rats' use of hierarchical organization in serial pattern learning.

Many organisms show aptitude for learning and performing patterned sequences. However, we do not yet have a complete account of how they accomplish this. One of the most successful is Restle's hierarchical model, which supposes organisms represent sequences using the simplest form available through using hierarchies to organize the sequences' elements.

Sex differences in serial pattern learning in mice.

Numerous investigators have examined the hypothesis that males and females learn or perform differentially on various tasks. However, many of the behavioural investigations with nonhuman animals (e.g.

Adolescent exposure to fluoxetine impairs serial pattern learning in the serial multiple choice (SMC) task in adult rats.

The effects of chronic adolescent fluoxetine (FLX, Prozac®) exposure on adult cognition are largely unknown. We used a serial multiple choice (SMC) task to characterize the effects of adolescent FLX exposure on rat serial pattern learning in adulthood. Male rats were exposed to either 1.

Serial pattern retention in male and female rats.

Serial pattern learning is a model paradigm for studying parallel-processing in complex learning in rats. The current experiment extends the paradigm to the study of sequential memory by examining forgetting curves for the component element types that make up a serial pattern. Adult male and female rats were trained in a serial multiple choice (SMC) task in which rats learned a serial pattern of nose-poke responses in a circular array of 8 receptacles mounted on the walls of an octagonal operant chamber.

Serial pattern learning in pigeons: Rule-based or associative?

Extensive research has documented evidence for rule learning in sequential behavior tasks in both rats and humans. We adapted the 2-choice serial multiple choice (SMC) task developed for use with rats (Fountain & Rowan, 1995a) to study sequence behavior in pigeons. Pigeons were presented with 8 disks arranged in a circular array on a touchscreen, and pecking to an illuminated disk could lead to reward.

Transgenerational effects of adolescent nicotine exposure in rats: Evidence for cognitive deficits in adult female offspring.

This study investigated whether adolescent nicotine exposure in one generation of rats would impair the cognitive capacity of a subsequent generation. Male and female rats in the parental F0 generation were given twice-daily i.p.

Strategy breakdown following muscarinic blockade in rats.

The present study examined the effects of systemically administered atropine sulfate, a muscarinic cholinergic antagonist, on a series of probe tests in the retention of a highly-structured serial pattern in a serial multiple choice (SMC) task. Rats were trained on a 24-element pattern composed of eight 3-element chunks ending with a violation element: 123-234-345-456-567-678-781-818 where the digits represent the clockwise position of levers in an octagonal chamber, dashes indicate 3-s pauses termed "phrasing cues," and other intertrial intervals were 1s. In daily acquisition trials rats were given either 50mg/kg of atropine sulfate or an equivalent amount of saline (Chenoweth & Fountain, 2015).

Concurrent cognitive processes in rat serial pattern learning: II. Discrimination learning, rule learning, chunk length, and multiple-item memories.

The current experiment examined the factors that determine acquisition for elements of highly structured serial patterns. Three groups of rats were trained on three patterns with parallel rule-based hierarchical structure, but with 3-, 4-, or 5-element chunks, each with a final violation element. Once rats mastered their patterns, probe patterns were introduced to answer several questions.

Adolescent exposure to methylphenidate impairs serial pattern learning in the serial multiple choice (SMC) task in adult rats.

The long-term effects of adolescent exposure to methylphenidate (MPD) on adult cognitive capacity are largely unknown. We utilized a serial multiple choice (SMC) task, which is a sequential learning paradigm for studying complex learning, to observe the effects of methylphenidate exposure during adolescence on later serial pattern acquisition during adulthood. Following 20.

Central muscarinic cholinergic involvement in serial pattern learning: Atropine impairs acquisition and retention in a serial multiple choice (SMC) task in rats.

Atropine sulfate is a muscarinic cholinergic antagonist which impairs acquisition and retention performance on a variety of cognitive tasks. The present study examined the effects of atropine on acquisition and retention of a highly-structured serial pattern in a serial multiple choice (SMC) task. Rats were given daily intraperitoneal injections of either saline or atropine sulfate (50mg/kg) and trained in an octagonal operant chamber equipped with a lever on each wall.

Paradoxical effects of injection stress and nicotine exposure experienced during adolescence on learning in a serial multiple choice (SMC) task in adult female rats.

Nicotine exposure in adolescent rats has been shown to cause learning impairments that persist into adulthood long after nicotine exposure has ended. This study was designed to assess the extent to which the effects of adolescent nicotine exposure on learning in adulthood can be accounted for by adolescent injection stress experienced concurrently with adolescent nicotine exposure. Female rats received either 0.

Central cholinergic involvement in sequential behavior: impairments of performance by atropine in a serial multiple choice task for rats.

Two experiments examined whether muscarinic cholinergic systems play a role in rats' ability to perform well-learned highly-structured serial response patterns, particularly focusing on rats' performance on pattern elements learned by encoding rules versus by acquisition of stimulus-response (S-R) associations. Rats performed serial patterns of responses in a serial multiple choice task in an 8-lever circular array for hypothalamic brain-stimulation reward. Two experiments examined the effects of atropine, a centrally-acting muscarinic cholinergic receptor antagonist, on rats' ability to perform pattern elements where responses were controlled by rules versus elements, such as rule-inconsistent "violation elements" and elements following "phrasing cues," where responses were controlled by associative cues.

Sex differences in adult cognitive deficits after adolescent nicotine exposure in rats.

This study was designed to determine whether deficits in adult serial pattern learning caused by adolescent nicotine exposure persist as impairments in asymptotic performance, whether adolescent nicotine exposure differentially retards learning about pattern elements that are inconsistent with "perfect" pattern structure, and whether there are sex differences in rats' response to adolescent nicotine exposure as assessed by a serial multiple choice task. The current study replicated the results of our initial report (Fountain et al., 2008) using this task by showing that adolescent nicotine exposure (1.

Irrelevant relations and the active search for pattern structure in rat serial pattern learning.

Hersh (Mem Cogn 2:771-774, 1974) investigated the role of irrelevant relations in college students' pattern learning and performance for letter series completion problems. He created irrelevant relations in sequences by inserting items to make pattern structure ambiguous such that it was open to multiple interpretations during initial pattern processing. He reported irrelevant relations impaired humans' performance more when placed at the beginning of patterns than at the end.

Concurrent Cognitive Processes in Rat Serial Pattern Learning: Item Memory, Serial Position, and Pattern Structure.

Three experiments examined the processes mediating rat serial pattern learning for rule-consistent versus rule-violating pattern elements ("violation elements"). In all three experiments, rats were trained to press retractable levers in a circular array in a specific sequence for brain stimulation reward (BSR). Experiment 1 examined the role of lever location (L) and element serial position (SP) cues in rats' ability to learn to anticipate a violation element positioned at the end of a 24-element serial pattern.

Blocking in rat serial pattern learning.

Both associative and rule-learning theories have been proposed to account for rat serial pattern learning, but individually they are unable to account for a variety of recent behavioral and psychobiological phenomena. The present study examined the role of rule learning versus discriminative learning in rat pattern learning using a classic associative phenomenon: blocking. Rats learned to press levers in an 8-lever circular array according to a rule-based serial pattern, 123-234-345-456-567-678-781-812, where digits indicate the correct lever in the array for each trial.

Adolescent exposure to nicotine impairs adult serial pattern learning in rats.

In the present study investigating the effects of adolescent nicotine exposure on adult serial pattern learning, adolescent rats received daily i.p. injections of either 1.

Determinants of phrasing effects in rat serial pattern learning.

Two experiments investigated how brief pauses introduced into serial patterns as phrasing cues would affect pattern learning in rats. In Experiment 1, a 24-element pattern consisted of eight 3-element chunks, whereas a 20-element pattern consisted of four 5-element chunks. In both patterns, 3.

An associative model of rat serial pattern learning in three-element sequences.

Hypotheses ranging from subsymbolic to symbolic have been proposed to account for rat sequential behaviour, and in the subsymbolic domain alone there are multiple proposed subsymbolic processes or factors thought to affect serial behaviour. A behavioural study and computer simulations were conducted to evaluate these hypotheses, and a new computational associative model based on pairwise associations and generalization was evaluated. Seven 3-element sequences were selected for study that systematically (1) varied sequence discriminability, (2) varied reward magnitude, and (3) manipulated the order of food quantities.

What is learned in sequential learning? An associative model of reward magnitude serial-pattern learning.

A computational model of sequence learning is described that is based on pairwise associations and generalization. Simulations by the model predicted that rats should learn a long monotonic pattern of food quantities better than a nonmonotonic pattern, as predicted by rule-learning theory, and that they should learn a short nonmonotonic pattern with highly discriminable elements better than 1 with less discriminable elements, as predicted by interitem association theory. In 2 other studies, the model also simulated behavioral "rule generalization," "extrapolation," and associative transfer data motivated by both rule-learning and associative perspectives.