Complex nonverbal response inhibition and stopping impulsivity in childhood stuttering.
Levi C Ofoe, Julie D Anderson
PMID 34534900WHAT IT FOUND
Preschoolers who stutter were less accurate and slower at a nonverbal tapping task than fluent peers.
Boys who stutter produced significantly more extra taps, indicating difficulty stopping an action. These group differences suggest a domain-general weakness in inhibition, not just speech.
Key findings
01Children who stutter were significantly less accurate and had slower response times on the Peg Tapping Task compared to children who do not stutter.
02Children who stutter, particularly boys, produced more extra taps than their fluent peers, indicating difficulties with stopping impulsivity.
03The differences in inhibition were not explained by working memory or attention issues, as both groups showed similar patterns of performance decline over trials and no significant correlation between practice trials and accuracy for the stuttering group.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The study did not control for simple motor reaction time, so slower performance in CWS could theoretically be partly due to basic motor speed, although previous studies suggest this is unlikely. Findings represent group differences; not all children who stutter showed inhibition weaknesses, suggesting a subgroup effect. The sample size for sex-specific analyses, particularly for girls, was small (10 per group), which may have limited the ability to detect interactions. The study did not track children over time, so it is unclear if these inhibition differences persist in children who recover from stuttering versus those who do not.
Declared interests
The authors declared no conflicts of interest. The study was supported by the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD).
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume that every child who stutter has inhibition deficits. The study found group-level differences, but 37% of the children who stutter did not produce any extra taps, and some performed perfectly. These findings suggest a subgroup vulnerability, not a universal trait of childhood stuttering.