Exogenously triggered response inhibition in developmental stuttering

Manual response inhibition and quality of life in adults who stutter

“…Harrewijn et al (2017) also examined stopsignal task performance in a slightly older group of children who do and do not stutter (9-14 years of age). Similar to Eggers et al (2018), SSRT of children who stutter were significantly faster than children who do not stutter with no speed-accuracy tradeoff. In sum, although parents rate inhibitory control as weaker in children who stutter, these differences do not correspond with the inconsistent outcomes of two behavioral measures of inhibition (complex Stroop-like inhibition tasks, simple go/no-go tasks), and the unexpectedly stronger response inhibition demonstrated by children who stutter during stop-signal paradigms.…”

“…Response inhibition also changes with age, with younger children and older adults presenting slower SSRT latencies (Williams, Ponesse, Schachar, Logan & Tannock, 1999). Thus far, evidence of slowed or atypical aspects of inhibition (e.g., cognitive control, emotional regulation, temperament) have been observed more frequently for children who stutter than adults who stutter, using a variety of measures (parent questionnaire: Anderson, Pellowski, Conture & Kelly, 2003;Eggers et al, 2010;Embrechts, Ebben, Franke & van den Poel, 2000;Felsenfeld, van Beijsterveldt & Boomsma, 2010;Karrass, Walden, Conture, et al, 2006;behavioral measures: Anderson & Wagovich, 2017;Eggers et al 2013Eggers et al , 2018Johnson, Walden, Conture & Karrass, 2010;Jones, Buhr, Conture, Tumanova, Walden & Porges, 2014;Jones, Choi, Conture & Walden, 2014;Ntourou, Anderson & Wagovich, 2018;Ntourou, Conture & Walden, 2013;Walden, Frankel, Buhr, Johnson, Conture & Karrass, 2012;Zengin-Bolatkale, Conture & Walden, 2015;neuroimaging: Arnold, Conture, Key & Walden, 2011;Piispala, Kallio, Bloigu & Jansson-Verkasalo, 2016;Piispala, Määttä, Pääkkönen, Bloigu, Kallio, Jansson-Verkasalo, 2017).…”

“…Neuroimaging data from these same studies, however, indicated a possible impairment in the anterior cingulate cortex, an area of the brain related to self-regulation processes such as response inhibition, which potentially result in children who stutter taking longer and requiring more resources to select responses during the task compared to typically developing peers. More recently, Eggers et al (2018) used the stop-signal task to study manual response inhibition in children who stutter (7-10 years old). No significant SSRT differences were found between groups; however, children who stutter were significantly faster than children who do not stutter on the go-trials and failed stop-trial response times and produced significantly shorter stop-signal delays, indicating children who stutter reacted faster on this task than children who do not stutter.…”

The Role of Executive Function in Developmental Stuttering

“…At least eight behavioral studies have been published concerning the role of inhibition in developmental stuttering (see Table 1). Of these eight studies, four studies reported that CWS have weaker inhibition skills than CWNS, 30–33 three studies revealed that CWS and CWNS have similar inhibition skills, 34–36 and one study found that CWS have stronger inhibition skills than CWNS. 37 Thus, the findings from these studies are inconclusive and contradictory as to whether CWS have more difficulty than CWNS suppressing prepotent responses.…”

Bidirectional Associations of Childhood Stuttering With Behavior and Temperament

“…Researchers have examined behavior and temperament in preschool children near the timing of stuttering onset using several methods of measurement (Conture et al, 2013;Jones, Choi, et al, 2014). First, using behavioral observations and experimental tests in home or clinical settings, researchers have found that preschool children who stutter show more emotional reactivity and poorer self-regulation skills than their nonstuttering peers (Choi et al, 2013;Eggers et al, 2012Eggers et al, , 2013Eggers et al, , 2018Erdemir et al, 2018;Walden et al, 2012). Second, using psychophysiological methods-electroencephalograms, salivary cortisol, skin conductance level, respiratory sinus arrhythmia, or sympathetic activity-during video viewing or a stressful speaking task, some researchers have found that children who stutter show more emotional regulation (e.g., respiratory sinus arrhythmia or higher sympathetic arousal) during speaking or a stressful task (Arnold et al, 2011;Choi et al, 2016;Jones, Buhr, et al, 2014Walsh et al, 2019;Zengin-Bolatkale et al, 2018).…”