The ability to learn and reproduce sequences is fundamental to every-day life, and deficits in sequential learning are associated with developmental disorders such as specific language impairment. Individual differences in sequential learning are usually investigated using the serial reaction time task (SRTT), wherein a participant responds to a series of regularly timed, seemingly random visual cues that in fact follow a repeating deterministic structure. Although manipulating inter-cue interval timing has been shown to adversely affect sequential learning, the role of metre (the patterning of salience across time) remains unexplored within the regularly timed, visual SRTT. The current experiment consists of an SRTT adapted to include task-irrelevant auditory rhythms conferring a sense of metre. We predicted that (1) participants’ (n = 41) reaction times would reflect the auditory metric structure; (2) that disrupting the correspondence between the learned visual sequence and auditory metre would impede performance; and (3) that individual differences in sensitivity to rhythm would predict the magnitude of these effects. Altering the relationship via a phase shift between the trained visual sequence and auditory metre slowed reaction times. Sensitivity to rhythm was predictive of reaction times over all. In an exploratory analysis, we, moreover, found that approximately half of participants made systematically different responses to visual cues on the basis of the cues’ position within the auditory metre. We demonstrate the influence of auditory temporal structures on visuomotor sequential learning in a widely used task where metre and timing are rarely considered. The current results indicate sensitivity to metre as a possible latent factor underpinning individual differences in SRTT performance.

学习和重现序列的能力是日常生活的基础，序列学习的缺陷与特定语言障碍等发育障碍有关。通常使用连续反应时间任务 (SRTT) 来研究顺序学习中的个体差异，其中参与者对一系列有规律的定时、看似随机的视觉提示做出响应，这些视觉提示实际上遵循重复的确定性结构。尽管已证明操纵提示间间隔时间会对顺序学习产生不利影响，但在定期计时的视觉 SRTT 中，仪表的作用（跨时间的显着性模式）仍未得到探索。当前的实验由一个 SRTT 组成，该 SRTT 适合包括与任务无关的听觉节律，赋予节拍感。我们预测 (1) 参与者的 (n= 41) 反应时间将反映听觉度量结构；(2) 破坏学习到的视觉序列和听觉计之间的对应关系会妨碍表现；(3) 个体对节奏敏感性的差异可以预测这些影响的大小。通过经过训练的视觉序列和听觉计之间的相移来改变关系会减慢反应时间。对节奏的敏感性可以预测所有的反应时间。此外，在探索性分析中，我们发现大约一半的参与者根据线索在听觉计中的位置对视觉线索做出系统性的不同反应。我们在一项广泛使用的任务中展示了听觉时间结构对视觉运动顺序学习的影响，其中很少考虑仪表和时间。