Within the Visuo-Spatial Sketchpad, which subcomponent is responsible for encoding the order of spatial items?

• A. The inner scribe
• B. The visual cache
• C. The phonological loop
• D. The episodic buffer

Answer: (A)

The ability to encode the order of spatial items comes from the inner scribe. Within the Visuo-Spatial Sketchpad, the inner scribe acts as a spatial rehearsal system, maintaining and updating the sequence of locations and the relationships between them. This lets you keep track of the order in which you encounter or arrange objects in space, like tracing a route or remembering a sequence of spots in a scene. The visual cache stores how things look, not their order; the phonological loop handles sounds and verbal information; and the episodic buffer integrates across modalities but isn’t specialized for ordering spatial items within the VSSP.