A method and device for hiding refresh operations during accesses to sub-arrays of a pseudo-static memory device. By refreshing sub-array.sub.j while filling the row R.sub.i (where i.noteq.j) corresponding to sub-array.sub.i, refresh operations can be performed without risking that a read request will interrupt the refresh operation. Additional refresh operations of sub-array.sub.i can be performed serially with the operations of filling the row R.sub.i without delaying the overall burst read or write operation if the burst is made sufficiently long.