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Comparing Semantic and Phonemic Fluency Performance in Adults Who Do and Do Not Stutter
Zoi Gkalitsiou1, Danielle Werle2
1Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences, California State University, East Bay, Hayward.
Adults who stutter (AWS) show weaker phonemic fluency and executive control compared to adults who do not stutter (AWNS). Their word storage and organization abilities appear intact, suggesting specific challenges in accessing phonological information.
Area of Science:
- Speech and Language Pathology
- Cognitive Neuroscience
- Psycholinguistics
Background:
- Stuttering (AWS) is a complex disorder affecting speech fluency.
- Executive functions and lexical access are crucial for fluent speech production.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate lexical access and executive control in adults who stutter (AWS) and adults who do not stutter (AWNS).
- To identify specific cognitive processes that are challenging for AWS, contributing to their speech difficulties.
Main Methods:
- Participants completed phonemic and semantic fluency tasks.
- Performance was analyzed based on accurate responses, clustering, and switching between response categories.
Main Results:
- AWS produced fewer accurate responses in phonemic fluency compared to AWNS.
- No significant differences in clustering were observed between AWS and AWNS.
- AWS exhibited significantly fewer switches than AWNS.
Conclusions:
- AWS demonstrate weaker phonemic-based lexical access and executive control compared to AWNS.
- The findings suggest that challenges in accessing phonological information contribute to stuttering.
- Word storage and organization of semantic information appear unaffected in AWS.
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