Identification of traits associated with stuttering.
Stuttering has been considered a heritable disorder since the 1930s. There have been different models of transmission that have been proposed most involving a polygenic component with or without a major locus. In spite of these models, the characteristics being transmitted are not known. This study used two different tasks-a tapping task that is thought to probe hemispheric differences and a Stroop task, which appears to create interferences in speech motor programming and/or execution. The 48 participants in this study included individuals who stutter, high risk family members and controls for each group. Results indicated that for tapping at a comfortable rate, the experimental groups were significantly different from their control groups and for tapping at a fast rate, the stuttering and high risk groups were different from each other. The results of the Stroop test were not statistically significant.


OBJECTIVE
Readers will learn about: (1) genetic aspects of stuttering; (2) hemispheric dominance in stuttering and high risk subjects; (3) understanding traits that may be associated with stuttering.
Subramanian
Anu
A
Anne Sullivan Center Early Intervention Program, Lowell, MA 01886, USA. subramanian.anu@gmail.com
Yairi
Ehud
E
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D004292:Dominance, Cerebral / Q000235:genetics; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009044:Motor Cortex / Q000503:physiopathology*; D010700:Phonetics; D012307:Risk Factors; D013060:Speech; D013068:Speech Production Measurement; D013342:Stuttering / Q000235:genetics* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D013637:Tape Recording