Persistent developmental stuttering as a cortical-subcortical dysfunction: evidence from muscle activation

Arquivos de Neuro-Psiquiatria

Claudia Regina Furquim De Andrade²  Fernanda Chiarion Sassi²  Fabiola Juste²  Lucia Iracema Zanotto De Mendonça¹ 

[1] ,University of São Paulo School of Medicine Departament of Physiotherapy, Speech-Language and Hearing Sciences and Occupational TherapySão Paulo SP ,Brazil

关键词: speech;    stuttering;    electromyography;    reaction time;    fala;    gagueira;    eletromiografia;    tempo de reação;   

DOI  :  10.1590/S0004-282X2008000500010

来源: SciELO

【 摘 要 】

BACKGROUND: One contemporary view of stuttering posits that speech disfluencies arise from anomalous speech motor control. PURPOSE: To verify the rest muscle tension and speech reaction time of fluent and stuttering adults. METHOD: 22 adults, divided in two groups: G1 - 11 fluent individuals; G2 - 11 stutterers. Electromyography recordings (inferior orbicularis oris) were collected in two different situations: during rest and in a reaction time activity. RESULTS: The groups were significantly different considering rest muscle tension (G2 higher recordings) and did not differ when considering speech reaction time and muscle activity during speech. There was a strong positive correlation between speech reaction time and speech muscle activity for G2 - the longer the speech reaction time, the higher the muscle activity during speech. CONCLUSION: In addition to perceptible episodes of speech disfluency, stutterers exhibit anomalies in speech motor output during fluent speech. Correlations with a possible cortical-subcortical disorder are discussed.

【 授权许可】

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