Generalized lessons about sequence learning from the study of the serial reaction time task

Abstract

Over the last 20 years researchers have used the serial reaction time (SRTSRT) task to investigate the nature of spatial sequence learning. They have used the task to identify the locus of spatial sequence learning, identify situations that enhance and those that impair learning, and identify the important cognitive processes that facilitate this type of learning. Although controversies remain, the SRTSRT task has been integral in enhancing our understanding of implicit sequence learning. It is important, however, to ask what, if anything, the discoveries made using the SRTSRTSRT task tell us about implicit learning more generally. This review analyzes the state of the current spatial SRTSRT sequence learning literature highlighting the stimulus-response rule hypothesis of sequence learning which we believe provides a unifying account of discrepant SRTSRT data. It also challenges researchers to use the vast body of knowledge acquired with the SRTSRT task to understand other implicit learning literatures too often ignored in the context of this particular task. This broad perspective will make it possible to identify congruencies among data acquired using various different tasks that will allow us to generalize about the nature of implicit learning.