Which subcomponent of the Phonological Loop is responsible for sub-vocal refreshing to prevent decay?

• A. Phonological Store
• B. Visual Cache
• C. Inner Scribe
• D. Articulatory Rehearsal Process

Answer: (D)

Verbal information in working memory is kept active by subvocal rehearsal within the Phonological Loop. The component that does this sub-vocal refreshing is the Articulatory Rehearsal Process. It silently repeats the items (inner speech), which restores and maintains their memory traces in the Phonological Store, preventing decay that would occur if nothing refreshed them. The Phonological Store holds the acoustic-like traces, but it’s the rehearsal process that keeps those traces alive. The other two components belong to the Visuo-Spatial Sketchpad and handle visual/spatial information, not verbal maintenance, so they don’t perform this refreshing function.