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From: Woody
Date: 10/12/00
Time: 7:49:58 AM
Remote Name: 155.247.229.113
I think, Gunars, that your reaction is exactly the kind of reaction that the authors would decry. I haven't read the article, of course, since it hasn't appeared yet, but I was somewhat alarmed by the headline saying that the authors had found the "location" of stuttering. It sounds as though brain surgery could cure the problem. What they found was the location in the brain that is active during stuttering behavior and also during imagined stuttering behavior. I see the results as valuable additional information in describing the disorder because they have shown what areas of the brain are active. They are the areas that one would expect to be active during stuttering and during imagined stuttering, so I don't see it as any kind of a "breakthrough," just a valuable addition to knowledge. It has been known for some time that imagined behavior produces brain activity that is very similar, and similarly located, to the brain activity that occurs during the actual performance of the behavior. Sports psychologists have been using that to teach divers and gymnasts that imagined practice is nearly as beneficial as real practice. I am hopeful that the authors have used the kinds of controls that will enable us to make some important distinctions. For example, I am hoping that they have asked nonstutterers to pretend to stutter, and also that they have asked stutterers to pretend to stutter because the differences between the real and the pretend event would greatly enhance our understanding. Of course, there are always practical constraints on a piece of research, and it may be that the authors were unable to address this question. Another crucial control would be to monitor muscle activity levels in the speech and voice mechanism during imagined stuttering. Several decades ago it was shown that imagining oneself perform a behavior produced muscle activity in the related muscles, even though no overt activity occurred. Finally, I don't understand the conclusion, if it is really one the authors reached, that stuttering cannot be a speech motor disorder. It seems to me that their data demonstrate even more clearly that it IS a speech motor disorder, since the speech motor system was so clearly involved. Perhaps they define the term "speech motor disorder" differently than I do.
When a person performs an act, whether overtly or in imagination, the brain is active as part of the performance. I think that what they have shown is that stuttering is no different in this respect than any other behavior.