Final answer:
Option 1: Phonology is the correct answer because it pertains to the sound system of a language and the study of how sounds are organized and used.
Step-by-step explanation:
The activity in question involves encoding verbal information and is thus connected to psychological and linguistic processes. Specifically, this activity emphasizes the phonological processing of words. Phonology refers to the study of the sound system of a language and the rules that govern the sound combinations. In this case, the repetition of the word 'bat' alongside an unrelated word 'apple' draws attention to the sound or acoustic properties of the words rather than their meaning (semantics), structure (syntax), or the context of their use (pragmatics). The activity emphasizes phonological processing, which involves focusing on the sound or acoustic properties of words.
According to the study by psychologists Fergus Craik and Endel Tulving, questions that require processing of words at the phonological level involve the acoustic properties. Thus, when the participants in their experiments were asked questions about the sound or rhyming of words, they were engaging in acoustic processing, which is tied to phonology. Therefore, the correct answer to the student's question is Option 1: Phonology.