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From: Marjorie Rosenthal Foer
Date: 10/6/02
Time: 6:01:23 PM
Remote Name: 140.186.33.237
Hi and thanks for your research and report. I guess I need some clarity. Early in the article you reported that the brains of stutterers and nonstuterers were the same (I tried to copy that quote and the one below, but I guess I'm not that advanced computer-wise), then at the end you wrote:
"From our findings we have learned, however, that the brains of people who stutter are indeed different from the brains of those who do not and that those differences appear to be confined to the functions of speech-motor planning (and, perhaps, production) and internalized auditory feedback." It could also be not just the activity of the brain for those functions but for the "experience" of stuttering or anticipating stuttering as John Harrison would say.
So, given your findings, the brains of the two groups are still the same, but the way they activate (or experience the moment) appears to be different. I would think that if I performed any action differently, or had an unusual anticipatory set that my brain activity would reflect that difference.
I would be interested in the findings of the "recovered stutterers" talking compared to the stutterers talking while not stuttering. Since most people who stutter do not stutter when they are talking out loud to themselves, you could compare PWS during this relaxed, "private" non-stuttering time and compare it to nonstutterers and recovered stutterers.
It was great to see you in New Mexico Jan! Marjorie