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Techniques for Studying Subvocalization
Subvocalization is commonly studied using electromyography (EMG) recordings, concurrent speaking tasks  , shadowing  ,  and other techniques.

EMG can be used to show the degree to which one is subvocalizing or to train subvocalization suppression. EMG is used to record the electrical activity produced by the articulatory muscles involved in subvocalization. Greater electrical activity suggests a stronger use of subvocalization. In the case of suppression training, the trainee is shown thier own EMG recordings while attempting to decrease the movement of the articulatory muscles. The EMG recordings allows one to monitor and ideally reduce subvocalization.

In concurrent speaking tasks, participants of a study are asked to complete an activity specific to the experiment while simultaneously repeating an irrelevant word. For example, one may be asked to read a paragraph while reciting the word "cola" over and over again. Speaking the repeated irrelevant word is thought to preoccupy the articulators used in subvocalization. Subvocalization, therefore, cannot be used in the mental processing of the activity being studied. Participants who had undergone the concurrent speaking task are then compared to other participants of the study who had completed the same activity without subvocalization interferance.If performance on the activity is significantly less for those in the concurrent speaking task group than for those in the non-interference group, subvocalization is believed to play a role in the mental processing of that activity. The participants in the non-interference comparison group usually also complete a different yet equally distracting task that does not involve the articulator muscles (i.e. tapping). This ensures that the difference in performance between the two groups is in fact due to subvocalization disturbances as opposed to things such as task difficulty or a divide in attention.

Shadowing is conceptually similar to concurrent speaking tasks. Instead of repeating an irrelevant word, shadowing requires participants to listen to a list of words and to repeat those words as fast as possible while completing a separate task being studied by experimenters.

Techinques for subvocalization interference other may also include counting ,chewing or locking one's jaw while placing the tongue on the roof of one's mouth.

Role in Encoding
Subvocalization plays a large role in encoding. Subvocalization appears to facilitate the translating of visual linguistic information into acoustic information and vice versa. For example, subvocalization occurs when one sees a word and is asked to say it (see-say condition), or when one hears a word and is asked to write it (hear-write condition), but not when one is asked to see a word and then write it (see-write condition) or hear and word and then say it (hear-say condition). The see-say condition converts visual information into acoustic information. The hear-write condition converts acoustic information into visual information. The see-write and hear-say conditions, however, remain in the same sensory domain and do not require translation into a different type of code.

This is also supported by findings that suggest that subvocalization is not required for the encoding of speech ,as words being heard are already in acoustic form and therefore enter the inner ear directly without use of the inner voice. Furthermore, subvocalization interference impedes reading comprehension but not listening comprehension.

Role in Reading Comprehension
Subvocalization's role in reading comprehension can be viewed as a function of task complexity. Subvocalization is involved minimally or not at all in immediate comprehension. . For example, subvocalization is not used in the making of homophone judgements (are heir and air homophones?) but is used more for the comprehension of sentences and even more still for the comprehension of paragraphs. Subvocalization, which translates visual reading information into a more durable and flexible acoustic code is thought to allow for the integration of past concepts with those currently being processed.