Bauerly Kim R, Jackson Eric S
Speech Fluency Lab, The University of Vermont, Burlington.
Department of Communicative Sciences and Disorders, New York University, NY.
J Speech Lang Hear Res. 2024 Dec 9;67(12):4676-4688. doi: 10.1044/2024_JSLHR-24-00256. Epub 2024 Nov 6.
Research has found an advantage to maintaining an external attentional focus while speaking as an increase in accuracy and a decrease in across-sentence variability has been found when producing oral-motor and speech tasks. What is not clear is how attention affects articulatory variability both and sentences, or how attention affects articulatory control in speakers who stutter. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of an internal versus external attention focus on articulatory variability at the sentence level.
This study used linear (spatial-temporal index [STI]) and nonlinear (recurrence quantification analysis [RQA]) indices to measure lip aperture variability in 10 adults who stutter (AWS) and 15 adults who do not stutter (ANS) while they repeated sentences under an internal versus external attentional focus, virtual reality task (withVR.app; retrieved December 2023 from https://therapy.withvr.app). Four RQA measures were used to calculate within sentence variability including percent recurrence, percent determinism (%DET), stability (MAXLINE), and stationarity (TREND). Sentence duration measures were also obtained.
AWS' movement durations were significantly longer than those of the ANS across conditions, and the AWS were more affected by the attentional focus shifts as their speech rate significantly increased when speaking with an external focus. AWS' speech patterns were also significantly more deterministic (%DET) and stable (MAXLINE) across attentional focus conditions compared to those of the ANS. Both groups showed an effect from attentional shifts as they exhibited less variability (i.e., more consistent) across sentences (STI) and less determinism (%DET) and stability (MAXLINE) within sentences when repeating sentences under an external attentional focus. STI values were not significantly different between the AWS and ANS for the internal or external attentional focus tasks. There were no significant main effects for group or condition for TREND; however, a main effect for sentence type was found.
Results suggest that AWS use a more restrictive and less flexible approach to movement and that an external focus fosters more flexibility and thus responsiveness to external factors.
研究发现，在说话时保持外部注意力焦点具有一定优势，因为在进行口腔运动和言语任务时，准确性会提高，句子间的变异性会降低。目前尚不清楚注意力如何影响音节间和句子间的发音变异性，也不清楚注意力如何影响口吃者的发音控制。本研究的目的是调查内部与外部注意力焦点对句子层面发音变异性的影响。
本研究使用线性（时空指数[STI]）和非线性（递归量化分析[RQA]）指标，在10名口吃成人（AWS）和15名非口吃成人（ANS）在内部与外部注意力焦点、虚拟现实任务（使用withVR.app；2023年12月从https://therapy.withvr.app获取）下重复句子时，测量他们的唇孔径变异性。使用四个RQA指标来计算句子内的变异性，包括重现百分比、确定性百分比（%DET）、稳定性（MAXLINE）和平稳性（TREND）。还获得了句子时长测量值。
在所有条件下，AWS的运动持续时间均显著长于ANS，并且当以外部焦点说话时，AWS的语速显著增加，因此他们受注意力焦点转移的影响更大。与ANS相比，在所有注意力焦点条件下，AWS的言语模式也具有显著更高的确定性（%DET）和稳定性（MAXLINE）。两组在注意力转移时均表现出影响，即在外部注意力焦点下重复句子时，他们在句子间的变异性较小（即更一致），在句子内的确定性（%DET）和稳定性（MAXLINE）较低。对于内部或外部注意力焦点任务，AWS和ANS之间的STI值没有显著差异。对于TREND，组或条件没有显著的主效应；然而，发现了句子类型的主效应。
结果表明，AWS在运动时使用的方法更具限制性且灵活性较低，而外部焦点会促进更大的灵活性，从而提高对外界因素的反应能力。
