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Published on: April 12, 2018
Phonological priming in young children who stutter: holistic versus incremental processing
Courtney T Byrd1, Edward G Conture, Ralph N Ohde
1University of Texas at Austin, TX, USA. courtneybyrd@mail.utexas.edu
Purpose:
To investigate the holistic versus incremental phonological encoding processes of young children who stutter (CWS; N = 26) and age- and gender-matched children who do not stutter (CWNS; N = 26) via a picture-naming auditory priming paradigm.
Method:
Children named pictures during 3 auditory priming conditions: neutral, holistic, and incremental. Speech reaction time (SRT) was measured from the onset of picture presentation to the onset of participant response.
Results:
CWNS shifted from being significantly faster in the holistic priming condition to being significantly faster in the incremental priming condition from 3 to 5 years of age. In contrast, the majority of 3- and 5-year-old CWS continued to exhibit faster SRT in the holistic than the incremental condition.
Conclusion:
CWS are delayed in making the developmental shift in phonological encoding from holistic to incremental processing, a delay that may contribute to their difficulties establishing fluent speech.
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