Auditory rhythm discrimination in adults who stutter: An fMRI study

•Adults who stutter show poor discrimination of complex relative to simple rhythms.•Adults who stutter may rely on interval- rather than beat-based timing mechanisms.•Dysfunction in rhythm and timing networks may be a causal component of stuttering. Rhythm perception deficits have been linked to neu...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Brain and language 2023-01, Vol.236, p.105219-105219, Article 105219
Main Authors: Garnett, Emily O., McAuley, J. Devin, Wieland, Elizabeth A., Chow, Ho Ming, Zhu, David C., Dilley, Laura C., Chang, Soo-Eun
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Auditory Perception - physiology
Basal ganglia
Brain - diagnostic imaging
Cerebellum
Child
fMRI
Humans
Internal timing
Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Neurodevelopmental disorders
Rhythm
Speech - physiology
Stuttering
Stuttering - diagnostic imaging
Timing
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Summary:•Adults who stutter show poor discrimination of complex relative to simple rhythms.•Adults who stutter may rely on interval- rather than beat-based timing mechanisms.•Dysfunction in rhythm and timing networks may be a causal component of stuttering. Rhythm perception deficits have been linked to neurodevelopmental disorders affecting speech and language. Children who stutter have shown poorer rhythm discrimination and attenuated functional connectivity in rhythm-related brain areas, which may negatively impact timing control required for speech. It is unclear whether adults who stutter (AWS), who are likely to have acquired compensatory adaptations in response to rhythm processing/timing deficits, are similarly affected. We compared rhythm discrimination in AWS and controls (total n = 36) during fMRI in two matched conditions: simple rhythms that consistently reinforced a periodic beat, and complex rhythms that did not (requiring greater reliance on internal timing). Consistent with an internal beat deficit hypothesis, behavioral results showed poorer complex rhythm discrimination for AWS than controls. In AWS, greater stuttering severity was associated with poorer rhythm discrimination. AWS showed increased activity within beat-based timing regions and increased functional connectivity between putamen and cerebellum (supporting interval-based timing) for simple rhythms.
ISSN:0093-934X
1090-2155
DOI:10.1016/j.bandl.2022.105219