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. In two experiments, we evaluated if Restle’s model accurately accounted for rats’ patterned sequence learning. First, we compared rats’ learning of a runs pattern with three levels of hierarchical organization with no violations of pattern structure to learning of the same pattern with one violation of pattern structure in the pattern’s second half. Restle’s model predicts rats should have more difficulty learning the violation pattern and that rats learning the pattern with the violation in the second half of the pattern should attempt to reflect that violation to the first half. The results indicated that rats had more difficulty learning the violation pattern and that inserting a violation in the second half of the pattern led rats to make significantly more errors on the second half of the pattern relative to the first half of the pattern. Rats did not insert the violation from the second half of the pattern into the first half of the pattern. In a second experiment, we continued to explore if Restle’s model accurately accounted for rats’ pattern learning using more complex patterns. The present results of both experiments and prior work with humans were inconsistent with Restle’s model, suggesting more work is needed to develop a model that accurately accounts for rats’ learning of complex patterned sequences.

许多生物体表现出学习和执行模式序列的能力。但是，我们还没有完整说明他们是如何做到这一点的。最成功的一个是 Restle 的层次模型，它假设生物体使用最简单的形式表示序列，通过使用层次结构来组织序列的元素。在两个实验中，我们评估了 Restle 的模型是否准确地解释了大鼠的模式序列学习。首先，我们将大鼠对具有三个层次组织且没有违反模式结构的运行模式的学习与在模式的后半部分学习相同模式但有一次违反模式结构的情况进行了比较。Restle 的模型预测老鼠应该更难学习违规模式，并且在模式后半部分学习违规模式的老鼠应该尝试将这种违规反映到前半部分。结果表明，老鼠更难学习违规模式，并且在模式的后半部分插入违规会导致老鼠在模式的后半部分比模式的前半部分犯更多的错误。大鼠没有将违反从模式的后半部分插入到模式的前半部分。在第二个实验中，我们继续探索 Restle 的模型是否使用更复杂的模式准确地解释了大鼠的模式学习。目前的实验结果和先前的人类工作结果与 Restle 的模型不一致，