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From: Roger Ingham
Date: 10/8/02
Time: 1:52:01 PM
Remote Name: 128.111.217.138
Dear Marjorie:
Thanks for your question -- I trust you won't mind if Jan's co-author responds.
I think it's fair to say that there is now some debate about whether the neural differences between adults who stutter and their controls are different anatomically. Two recent studies (Foundas et al., and Sommer et al.) have found neuroanatomic differences that were not found in the cerebral blood flow studies. It isn't clear how robust those findings are, but they might suggest that these are neuroanatomic expressions of the genetic factors that seem to be an indisputable aspect of the disorder.
Your question about the recovered stutterers is quite interesting. We are still conducting imaging studies on this group using PET and event-related fMRI. So far there is a strong suggestion that some of the important aberrant regions are still present. It would certainly be interesting to be able to image people who stutter while they are speaking alone, but that is next to impossible when the facilities require the presence of an extensive technical staff.