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Nine stutterers and nine nonstutterers at each of three age levels (5 years, 9 years, and 18 years and above) responded to the onset of 21 1-kHz tones by depressing the index finger of their preferred hand on a response key. Finger reaction times (FRTs) were measured to the nearest millisecond and compared to the voice reaction times (VRTs) obtained from the same subjects. Increased speed and stability of the finger reaction times were observed as an inverse function of age for both groups. The stutterers, as a group, exhibited mean FRTs which were significantly longer and more variable than those of the nonstutterers at each of the three age levels. High correlations also were found between the finger and voice reaction scores for both the stutterers and the nonstutterers. Results support the inference that some stutterers may exhibit difficulty in the consistent execution of motor control strategies common to both speech and nonspeech movements.

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The effects of self-administered and investigator-administered presumed fluency reinforcing monetary rewards for perceived fluency increases on the disfluency frequency rate of 17 adult stutterers were studied. Subjects read aloud during 11 one-minute segments under three conditions: one in which no reinforcer was administered at the end of each one-minute segment, a self-administered reinforcement condition, and an investigator-administered reinforcement condition. Although less stuttering was found in the two experimental conditions (with significantly less stuttering occurring in the self-administered fluency reinforcing condition than in the control condition), an increase in stuttering was observed in those reading segments which followed the administration of presumed fluency reinforcing stimuli. These results were interpreted to suggest that although the concept of self-reinforcement may be clinically useful, the operant learning paradigm may be insufficient in providing an adequate description of the events taking place following the administration of fluency contingent reinforcing or punishing stimuli.