The Effects Of Cognitive Versus Motor Load On Overt Stuttering Severity In Adults: An Exploration Of Factors Affecting Speech Fluency
Abstract
Stuttering is a variable condition, with people who stutter (PWS) experiencing fluctuating degrees of stuttering severity depending on the situation. This variability has been linked to several factors, including both motor and cognitive demands such as multi-tasking. While the influence of dual-task performance on stuttering has been explored, the results were mixed and the extent to which different types of secondary task demands impact stuttering severity remains unclear. This study was aimed at investigating how various types of cognitive and motor load affect fluency in a group of thirty PWS and thirty typically fluent speakers.The study was designed in two experiments. In the first experiment, participants were asked to complete sentences that they had heard in an incomplete form. These sentence completion tasks were performed under three conditions: no additional task, a motor task involving complex finger tapping, and a cognitive task involving digit summation. The results showed that stuttering frequency was significantly influenced by the type of load: it was lowest when participants were engaged in the motor load, higher in the no-load condition, and highest under the cognitive load condition.