Brain imaging studies of developmental stuttering

This paper reviews recent brain imaging research on stuttering against a background of studies that the writer and colleagues have been conducting at the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio. The paper begins by reviewing some pertinent background to recent neuroimaging investigations of developmental stuttering. It then outlines the findings from four brain imaging studies that the San Antonio group has conducted using H2(15)O positron emission tomography (PET). Finally, some of the principal findings that are emerging across brain imaging studies of stuttering are reviewed, while also highlighting--and attempting to resolve--some apparent across-study inconsistencies among the findings. Research on stuttering using magnetoencephalogaphy (MEG) and transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is also considered. The findings increasingly point to a failure of normal temporal lobe activation during speech that may either contribute to (or is the result of) a breakdown in the sequencing of processing among premotor regions implicated in phonologic planning.

As a result of this activity, the participant will become familiar with some recent neurophysiological correlates of stuttering and what they suggest about the nature of this disorder.