Which effect demonstrates the phonological loop's vulnerability to auditory interference?

• A. Irrelevant Speech Effect
• B. Word Length Effect
• C. Phonological Similarity Effect
• D. Articulatory Suppression

Answer: (A)

The key idea here is that the phonological loop handles verbally coded information and relies on subvocal rehearsal to keep items in memory. When there’s background auditory input that competes for the same phonological processing, recall of verbal items suffers. The Irrelevant Speech Effect shows this clearly: hearing background speech while trying to remember a list disrupts the phonological store and the rehearsal process, so you recall fewer items than you would in a quiet environment. This demonstrates the loop’s vulnerability to external auditory interference.

The other effects illustrate different properties of the same system but not this kind of interference. The Word Length Effect is about how the time needed to rehearse each item (longer words take more time) limits capacity, not about interference from external sounds. The Phonological Similarity Effect shows that items that sound alike are more easily confused within the phonological store, highlighting encoding similarity. Articulatory suppression shows that actively occupying the rehearsal process—typically by repeating a syllable—reduces recall, but it’s about internal rehearsal demand rather than external auditory interference.