Strategies in neuroimaging and neurocomputational modeling are causing a better understanding of brain function during speech and how stammering occurs. Credit: Frank Guenther
Stuttering starts at speech initiation, not due to impaired motor abilities.
Theory recommends abnormalities in the brains initiation circuit cause stuttering.
About one in 20 individuals go through a duration of stuttering during youth. Until the latter half of the 20th century, stuttering was thought to be a psychological problem stemming from lack of effort or from trauma.
Nevertheless, techniques in neuroimaging are leading to a much better understanding of brain function throughout speech and how faltering arises. Frank Guenther, from Boston University, will present his findings on the origins of stuttering at the 181st Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America, which runs from November 29 to December 3, at the Hyatt Regency Seattle. The talk, “A neurocomputational view of developmental stuttering,” will take place Tuesday, November 30 at 2:15 p.m. Eastern U.S.
Methods in neuroimaging are leading to a much better understanding of brain function during speech and how stuttering develops. Frank Guenther, from Boston University, will provide his findings on the origins of stuttering at the 181st Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America, which runs from November 29 to December 3, at the Hyatt Regency Seattle. The talk, “A neurocomputational view of developmental stuttering,” will take place Tuesday, November 30 at 2:15 p.m. Eastern U.S.
Guenther compares speech to a jukebox that plays CDs.
Guenther compares speech to a jukebox that plays CDs. The jukebox has 2 circuits: one that selects a CD and one that plays the CD.
Inside the brain, this represents one circuit initiating the wanted speech in the basal ganglia, while another circuit coordinates the muscles needed to generate the speech. Stuttering originates from the initiation of speech, so just the very first of the two circuits suffers.
” In stuttering, the CDs themselves are fine, however the mechanism for choosing them suffers,” stated Guenther.
This theory matches behavioral observations of stuttering. Individuals will often speak words fluently later in a sentence, even if the very same words trigger stuttering at the start of a sentence.
Guenther and his group created computational designs of how the speech initiation circuit performs in a nonstuttering person. Since Parkinsons disease also affects the initiation circuit, they can compare these designs straight to information drawn from the basal ganglia during deep brain stimulation surgery in patients with the disease.
” This offers us a fighting possibility of discovering the specific issues underlying stuttering and resolving them with highly targeted drugs or technological treatments that have very little undesirable negative effects,” stated Guenther.
Fulfilling: 181st Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America