Articulatory Suppression - Phonological Loop and Visuospatial Sketchpad

Phonological Loop and Visuospatial Sketchpad

When studying articulatory suppression, many researchers examine the phonological loop and the visuospatial sketchpad as well. The phonological loop is the process of hearing information, which has direct access to one’s phonological store (i.e. one’s short-term memory). The visuospatial sketchpad is information that is seen (visual information), which only has access to the phonological store through one’s articulatory control process (i.e. when visual information can be phonologically encoded). Essentially, articulatory suppression is related to these two topics because it is what prevents visual information from being encoded into the phonological store.

A study done by Franssen, Vandierendonck and Van Hiel which addressed the question, to what extent is phonological working memory involved in time estimation processes. Their study used irrelevant speech and articulatory suppression to test whether time estimation is affected during a task condition or phonological load. The results showed that articulatory suppression had impaired time estimation. The results from this study tell us the effects of articulatory suppression and its involvement in the phonological loop.