Neural indices of nonword rhyme in stuttering (Hampton Wray & Spray, 2020)

Purpose: Phonological skills have been associated with developmental stuttering. The current study aimed to determine whether the neural processes underlying phonology, specifically for nonword rhyming, differentiated stuttering persistence and recovery.Method: Twenty-six children who stutter (CWS) and 18 children who do not stutter, aged 5 years, completed an auditory nonword rhyming task. Event-related brain potentials were elicited by prime, rhyming, and nonrhyming targets. CWS were followed longitudinally to determine eventual persistence (n = 14) or recovery (n = 12). This is a retrospective analysis of data acquired when all CWS presented as stuttering.Results: CWS who eventually recovered and children who do not stutter exhibited the expected rhyme effect, with larger event-related brain potential amplitudes elicited by nonrhyme targets compared to rhyme targets. In contrast, CWS who eventually persisted exhibited a reverse rhyme effect, with larger responses to rhyme than nonrhyme targets.Conclusions: These findings suggest that CWS who eventually persisted are not receiving the same benefit of phonological priming as CWS who eventually recovered for complex nonword rhyming tasks. These results indicate divergent patterns of phonological processing in young CWS who eventually persisted, especially for difficult tasks with limited semantic context, and suggest that the age of 5 years may be an important developmental period for phonology in CWS.Supplemental Material S1. List of rhyme word pairs. Hampton Wray, A., & Spray, G. (2020). Neural processes underlying nonword rhyme differentiate eventual stuttering persistence and recovery. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1044/2020_JSLHR-19-00320

目的：语音技能与发育性口吃现象存在关联。本研究旨在探究语音神经过程，尤其是非词押韵方面的过程，是否能够区分口吃持续与康复。方法：26名患有口吃的儿童（CWS）和18名无口吃的儿童，年龄均为5岁，完成了听觉非词押韵任务。通过启动、押韵和非押韵目标引发事件相关脑电位。对CWS进行纵向跟踪，以确定最终是否持续口吃（n = 14）或康复（n = 12）。这是对所有CWS表现为口吃时获取数据的回顾性分析。结果：最终康复的CWS和无口吃的儿童表现出预期的押韵效应，即与非押韵目标相比，押韵目标引发的脑电位幅度更大。相反，最终持续口吃的CWS表现出逆向押韵效应，即对押韵目标的反应大于对非押韵目标的反应。结论：这些发现表明，最终持续口吃的CWS在复杂非词押韵任务中并未获得与最终康复的CWS相同的语音启动益处。这些结果提示，在年轻CWS中，尤其是对于语义背景有限的困难任务，存在不同的语音处理模式，并暗示5岁可能是一个对CWS语音发展至关重要的成长阶段。补充材料S1：押韵词对列表。Hampton Wray, A., & Spray, G. (2020). 非词押韵背后的神经过程区分了最终持续口吃与康复。言语、语言和听力研究杂志。在线预发表。https://doi.org/10.1044/2020_JSLHR-19-00320