Differences in auditory verbal working memory between adults who do and do not stutter on an N-back task.

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Speech and Hearing Sciences
• Cognitive Psychology

Background:

• Stuttering is a complex speech disorder affecting verbal communication.
• Auditory verbal working memory is crucial for language processing and fluency.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate auditory verbal working memory differences between adults who stutter (AWS) and adults who do not stutter (AWNS).
• To utilize a highly demanding linguistic N-back task to assess these differences.

Main Methods:

• Fifteen AWS and 15 AWNS, matched for demographics, completed a word-based N-back task.
• Stimuli included phonologically similar and dissimilar words across 1, 2, and 3-back conditions.
• Performance metrics included accuracy, false alarms, and reaction times.

Main Results:

• No significant accuracy differences were observed between AWS and AWNS.
• Both groups improved accuracy and speed with decreasing N-back levels (1-back > 2-back > 3-back).
• AWS exhibited significantly slower reaction times at the 2-back level and more false alarms than AWNS.

Conclusions:

• Auditory verbal working memory and interference control differ between AWS and AWNS.
• These differences become apparent when processing highly linguistically demanding information.