PERSISTENCE OF THE PHONOLOGICAL TRACE IN WORKING-MEMORY

It has been argued that working memory contains a short-term phonologi cal store that is vulnerable to decay within 1-2 sec unless it is refr eshed by means of articulatory rehearsal. In Experiment 1, however, th e phonemic similarity effect was found to persist through a 10-sec ret ention interval during which the subjects engaged in articulatory supp ression, although it was not significant when they had engaged in coun ting backwards aloud. In Experiment 2, the phonemic similarity effect was found to persist through a retention interval of either 10 or 20 s ec during which the subjects engaged in either articulatory suppressio n or counting backwards aloud. It is concluded that the phonological t race in working memory may have a much longer duration than has previo usly been assumed.