Mock Jeffrey R, Foundas Anne L, Golob Edward J
Department of Psychology, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA 70118, USA.
Department of Psychology, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA 70118, USA.
Clin Neurophysiol. 2016 Sep;127(9):3093-3101. doi: 10.1016/j.clinph.2016.06.005. Epub 2016 Jun 17.
Developmental stuttering is characterized by fluent speech punctuated by stuttering events, the frequency of which varies among individuals and contexts. Most stuttering events occur at the beginning of an utterance, suggesting neural dynamics associated with stuttering may be evident during speech preparation.
This study used EEG to measure cortical activity during speech preparation in men who stutter, and compared the EEG measures to individual differences in stuttering rate as well as to a fluent control group. Each trial contained a cue followed by an acoustic probe at one of two onset times (early or late), and then a picture. There were two conditions: a speech condition where cues induced speech preparation of the picture's name and a control condition that minimized speech preparation.
Across conditions stuttering frequency correlated to cue-related EEG beta power and auditory ERP slow waves from early onset acoustic probes.
The findings reveal two new cortical markers of stuttering frequency that were present in both conditions, manifest at different times, are elicited by different stimuli (visual cue, auditory probe), and have different EEG responses (beta power, ERP slow wave).
The cue-target paradigm evoked brain responses that correlated to pre-experimental stuttering rate.
发育性口吃的特征是流畅的言语被口吃事件打断，口吃事件的频率在个体和情境中各不相同。大多数口吃事件发生在话语开始时，这表明与口吃相关的神经动力学可能在言语准备过程中就很明显。
本研究使用脑电图（EEG）来测量口吃男性在言语准备过程中的皮层活动，并将脑电图测量结果与口吃率的个体差异以及流利对照组进行比较。每个试验包含一个提示，随后在两个起始时间（早或晚）之一出现一个声学探针，然后是一张图片。有两种情况：一种言语情况，提示诱导对图片名称的言语准备；另一种对照情况，尽量减少言语准备。
在各种情况下，口吃频率与提示相关的脑电图β波功率以及早期起始声学探针的听觉事件相关电位慢波相关。
研究结果揭示了口吃频率的两个新的皮层标志物，它们在两种情况下均存在，在不同时间表现出来，由不同刺激（视觉提示、听觉探针）引发，并且具有不同的脑电图反应（β波功率、事件相关电位慢波）。
提示-目标范式诱发的大脑反应与实验前的口吃率相关。
