Cognitive flexibility in preschool children with and without stuttering disorders

Area of Science:

• Developmental psychology
• Speech and language pathology
• Cognitive neuroscience

Background:

• Developmental stuttering is multifactorial, with theories suggesting self-regulation and attentional flexibility play key roles.
• Weak attentional control is hypothesized to contribute to the persistence of stuttering in some children.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate attentional flexibility in preschool children who stutter (CWS) compared to children who do not stutter (CWNS).
• To determine if CWS exhibit less flexible attention shifting, as measured by the Dimension Card Change Sort (DCCS).

Main Methods:

• A computer-based version of the Dimension Card Change Sort (DCCS) was administered to 16 CWS and 30 CWNS.
• Participants were matched for age, cognitive ability, and language skills.
• The DCCS task involved switching matching rules for bivalent stimuli mid-task.

Main Results:

• Children who stutter showed significantly slower performance during the postswitch phase of the DCCS task.
• Contrasting speed-accuracy tradeoff patterns were observed between CWS and CWNS across task phases.
• These differences suggest potential difficulties in efficient attention shifting for CWS.

Conclusions:

• Early stuttering may be linked to impaired attentional control and increased error awareness.
• Findings support the association between weak attentional control and persistent developmental stuttering.
• This research contributes to understanding the cognitive underpinnings of stuttering.