Adaptive choice between articulatory rehearsal and attentional refreshing in verbal working memory

Because both articulatory rehearsal and attentional refreshing aid the maintenance of verbal information at short term, the present study evaluated the adaptive use of these mechanisms using a complex span paradigm. In Experiment 1, phonological similarity of memory-list words and attentional demand of concurrent processing were manipulated. As predicted, a phonological similarity effect (PSE) appeared only when the concurrent task was attention demanding, thus impairing the use of refreshing and encouraging rehearsal. To verify that PSE indicates the use of rehearsal, participants were instructed to use one of the two mechanisms in Experiments 2 and 3. In accordance wih Experiment 1, the phonological similarity effect was observed only under rehearsal. Thus, adults could adaptively choose between the two mechanisms. When remembering phonologically confusable materials, they prefer refreshing to reduce the impact of phonological characteristics. When available attention is reduced, they favor a less attention-demanding mechanism, rehearsal.