Cortical activity during cued picture naming predicts individual differences in stuttering frequency

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Speech and Language Sciences
• Biomedical Engineering

Background:

• Developmental stuttering involves disfluencies during speech, with frequency varying across individuals and situations.
• Stuttering events often occur at utterance beginnings, suggesting neural processes during speech preparation are involved.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate cortical activity during speech preparation in men who stutter using electroencephalography (EEG).
• To correlate EEG measures with individual differences in stuttering rate and compare findings to a fluent control group.

Main Methods:

• Utilized a cue-target paradigm with early and late acoustic probes during speech preparation and control conditions.
• Measured electroencephalography (EEG) cortical activity in men who stutter and a fluent control group.
• Compared EEG measures to pre-experimental stuttering rates.

Main Results:

• Stuttering frequency correlated with cue-related EEG beta power across conditions.
• Auditory event-related potential (ERP) slow waves from early acoustic probes also correlated with stuttering frequency.

Conclusions:

• Identified two novel cortical markers (EEG beta power and ERP slow waves) for stuttering frequency.
• These markers were present in both speech and control conditions, appearing at different times and elicited by different stimuli.
• The cue-target paradigm successfully evoked brain responses linked to stuttering rate.