Language memory 1: the mind's ear

Part of working memory is what I call the "mind's ear." This is a staging area for words we will speak or write and a way of accumulating words we hear or read. The mind's ear uses the parts of the brain that control speaking muscles, but it does not activate those muscles until we want it to.

When we are getting ready to speak, we rehearse the words in the mind's ear--much faster than actual speech unless we slow it down to check features such as intonation and rhythm. When we hear someone speak, the words go into our mind's ear and hang around until they are dissolved into meaning (or not) and replaced by more words.
[read more]

thanks to MorfaBlog