scholarly journals Dissociated Development of Speech and Limb Sensorimotor Learning in Stuttering: Speech Auditory-motor Learning is Impaired in Both Children and Adults Who Stutter

Neuroscience ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 451 ◽  
pp. 1-21
Author(s):  
Kwang S. Kim ◽  
Ayoub Daliri ◽  
J. Randall Flanagan ◽  
Ludo Max
Keyword(s):  
Motor Learning ◽  
Sensorimotor Learning ◽  
Adults Who Stutter

scholarly journals Dissociated development of speech and limb sensorimotor learning in stuttering: speech auditory-motor learning is impaired in both children and adults who stutter

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kwang S. Kim ◽  
Ayoub Daliri ◽  
John Randall Flanagan ◽  
Ludo Max
Keyword(s):  
Motor Learning ◽  
Neurodevelopmental Disorder ◽  
Visuomotor Adaptation ◽  
Sensorimotor Learning ◽  
Typically Developing ◽  
Older Children ◽  
Visuomotor Learning ◽  
Report Data ◽  
Adults Who Stutter ◽  
Reach Movements

Stuttering is a neurodevelopmental disorder of speech fluency. Various experimental paradigms have demonstrated that affected individuals show limitations in sensorimotor control and learning. However, controversy exists regarding two core aspects of this perspective. First, it has been claimed that sensorimotor learning limitations are detectable only in adults who stutter (after years of coping with the disorder) but not during childhood close to the onset of stuttering. Second, it remains unclear whether stuttering individuals' sensorimotor learning limitations affect only speech movements or also unrelated effector systems involved in nonspeech movements. We report data from separate experiments investigating speech auditory-motor learning (N = 60) and limb visuomotor learning (N = 84) in both children and adults who stutter versus matched nonstuttering individuals. Both children and adults who stutter showed statistically significant limitations in speech auditory-motor adaptation with formant-shifted feedback. This limitation was more profound in children than in adults and in younger children versus older children. Between-group differences in the adaptation of reach movements performed with rotated visual feedback were subtle but statistically significant for adults. In children, even the nonstuttering groups showed limited visuomotor adaptation just like their stuttering peers. We conclude that sensorimotor learning is impaired in individuals who stutter, and that the ability for speech auditory-motor learning -- which was already adult-like in 3-6 year-old typically developing children -- is severely compromised in young children near the onset of stuttering. Thus, motor learning limitations may play an important role in the fundamental mechanisms contributing to the onset of this speech disorder.

scholarly journals Speech auditory-motor adaptation lacks an explicit component: reduced adaptation in adults who stutter reflects limitations in implicit sensorimotor learning

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kwang S. Kim ◽  
Ludo Max
Keyword(s):  
Motor Learning ◽  
Implicit Learning ◽  
Auditory Feedback ◽  
Large Body ◽  
Motor Adaptation ◽  
Auditory Target ◽  
Sensorimotor Learning ◽  
Adults Who Stutter ◽  
Feedback Modalities ◽  
Sensory Prediction

AbstractThe neural mechanisms underlying stuttering remain poorly understood. A large body of work has focused on sensorimotor integration difficulties in individuals who stutter, including recently the capacity for sensorimotor learning. Typically, sensorimotor learning is assessed with adaptation paradigms in which one or more sensory feedback modalities are experimentally perturbed in real-time. Our own previous work on speech with perturbed auditory feedback revealed substantial auditory-motor learning limitations in both children and adults who stutter (AWS). It remains unknown, however, which sub-processes of sensorimotor learning are impaired. Indeed, new insights from research on upper-limb motor control indicate that sensorimotor learning involves at least two distinct components: (a) an explicit component that includes intentional strategy use and presumably is driven by target error, and (b) an implicit component that updates an internal model without awareness of the learner and presumably is driven by sensory prediction error. Here, we attempted to dissociate these components for speech auditory-motor learning in AWS vs. adults who do not stutter (AWNS). Our formant-shift auditory-motor adaptation results replicated previous findings that such sensorimotor learning is limited in AWS. Novel findings are that neither control nor stuttering participants reported any awareness of changing their productions in response to the auditory perturbation, and that neither group showed systematic drift in auditory target judgments made throughout the adaptation task. These results indicate that speech auditory-motor adaptation relies exclusively on implicit learning processes. Thus, limited adaptation in AWS reflects poor implicit sensorimotor learning. Keywords: stuttering, adaptation, auditory feedback, sensorimotor learning, implicit learning Speech auditory-motor adaptation lacks an explicit component: reduced adaptation in adults who stutter reflects limitations in implicit sensorimotor learning

Precise feedback control underlies sensorimotor learning in speech

2015 ◽  
Vol 113 (3) ◽  
pp. 950-955 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chris Vaughn ◽  
Sazzad M. Nasir
Keyword(s):  
Feedback Control ◽  
Motor Learning ◽  
Auditory Feedback ◽  
Sensorimotor Learning ◽  
Learning Paradigm ◽  
Current Feedback ◽  
Auditory Speech ◽  
Speech Motor Learning ◽  
Speech Motor

Acquiring the skill of speaking in another language, or for that matter a child's learning to talk, does not follow a single recipe. People learn by variable amounts. A major component of speech learnability seems to be sensing precise feedback errors to correct subsequent utterances that help maintain speech goals. We have tested this idea in a speech motor learning paradigm under altered auditory feedback, in which subjects repeated a word while their auditory feedback was changed online. Subjects learned the task to variable degrees, with some simply failing to learn. We assessed feedback contribution by computing one-lag covariance between formant trajectories of the current feedback and the following utterance that was found to be a significant predictor of learning. Our findings rely on a novel use of information-rich formant trajectories in evaluating speech motor learning and argue for their relevance in auditory speech goals of vowel sounds.

scholarly journals Estimating properties of the fast and slow adaptive processes during sensorimotor adaptation

2018 ◽  
Vol 119 (4) ◽  
pp. 1367-1393 ◽  
Author(s):  
Scott T. Albert ◽  
Reza Shadmehr
Keyword(s):  
Motor Learning ◽  
Expectation Maximization ◽  
State Space Model ◽  
Expectation Maximization Algorithm ◽  
Measured Data ◽  
Sensorimotor Learning ◽  
Adaptive Processes ◽  
Time Courses ◽  
Hidden States ◽  
Generalized Expectation

Experience of a prediction error recruits multiple motor learning processes, some that learn strongly from error but have weak retention and some that learn weakly from error but exhibit strong retention. These processes are not generally observable but are inferred from their collective influence on behavior. Is there a robust way to uncover the hidden processes? A standard approach is to consider a state space model where the hidden states change following experience of error and then fit the model to the measured data by minimizing the squared error between measurement and model prediction. We found that this least-squares algorithm (LMSE) often yielded unrealistic predictions about the hidden states, possibly because of its neglect of the stochastic nature of error-based learning. We found that behavioral data during adaptation was better explained by a system in which both error-based learning and movement production were stochastic processes. To uncover the hidden states of learning, we developed a generalized expectation maximization (EM) algorithm. In simulation, we found that although LMSE tracked the measured data marginally better than EM, EM was far more accurate in unmasking the time courses and properties of the hidden states of learning. In a power analysis designed to measure the effect of an intervention on sensorimotor learning, EM significantly reduced the number of subjects that were required for effective hypothesis testing. In summary, we developed a new approach for analysis of data in sensorimotor experiments. The new algorithm improved the ability to uncover the multiple processes that contribute to learning from error. NEW & NOTEWORTHY Motor learning is supported by multiple adaptive processes, each with distinct error sensitivity and forgetting rates. We developed a generalized expectation maximization algorithm that uncovers these hidden processes in the context of modern sensorimotor learning experiments that include error-clamp trials and set breaks. The resulting toolbox may improve the ability to identify the properties of these hidden processes and reduce the number of subjects needed to test the effectiveness of interventions on sensorimotor learning.

scholarly journals New Insights Into the Development of Human Tool Use

2017 ◽  
Vol 26 (4) ◽  
pp. 330-334 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeffrey J. Lockman ◽  
Björn A. Kahrs
Keyword(s):  
Motor Learning ◽  
Real Time ◽  
Tool Use ◽  
Cognitive Abilities ◽  
Developmental Time ◽  
Higher Order ◽  
Sensorimotor Learning ◽  
Object Surface ◽  
New Research

If tool use requires higher level cognitive abilities, how is it that many animals show the capacity to use tools? New research on the development of human tool use offers a way to resolve this paradox. The research suggests that there is a developmental synergy between affordance detection and motor learning: As juveniles continually explore affordances entailed by object-surface combinations in real time, they tune the actions that will be incorporated into tool use over developmental time. We illustrate these ideas with research on how object banging in infancy serves as the motor substrate for later developing percussive tool use. Collectively, the new research suggests that basic types of tool use in young humans and animals are rooted not in higher order cognitive abilities but shared principles of sensorimotor learning.

Computational Advantages of Reverberating Loops for Sensorimotor Learning

2012 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
pp. 611-634 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristen Fortney ◽  
Douglas B. Tweed
Keyword(s):  
Motor Learning ◽  
Electrical Activity ◽  
Sensorimotor Learning ◽  
Complex Control ◽  
Speed Up ◽  
Mixed Systems ◽  
Synaptic Mechanisms ◽  
Fast Motions

When we learn something new, our brain may store the information in synapses or in reverberating loops of electrical activity, but current theories of motor learning focus almost entirely on the synapses. Here we show that loops could also play a role and would bring advantages: loop-based algorithms can learn complex control tasks faster, with exponentially fewer neurons, and avoid the problem of weight transport. They do all this at a cost: in the presence of long feedback delays, loop algorithms cannot control very fast movements, but in this case, loop and synaptic mechanisms can complement each other—mixed systems quickly learn to make accurate but not very fast motions and then gradually speed up. Loop algorithms explain aspects of consolidation, the role of attention, and the relapses that are sometimes seen after a task has apparently been learned, and they make further predictions.

Self-Compassion and Quality of Life in Adults Who Stutter

2020 ◽  
Vol 29 (4) ◽  
pp. 2097-2108
Author(s):  
Robyn L. Croft ◽  
Courtney T. Byrd
Keyword(s):  
Quality Of Life ◽  
Social Connectedness ◽  
The Self ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Self Compassion ◽  
Adults Who Stutter ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
The Impact

Purpose The purpose of this study was to identify levels of self-compassion in adults who do and do not stutter and to determine whether self-compassion predicts the impact of stuttering on quality of life in adults who stutter. Method Participants included 140 adults who do and do not stutter matched for age and gender. All participants completed the Self-Compassion Scale. Adults who stutter also completed the Overall Assessment of the Speaker's Experience of Stuttering. Data were analyzed for self-compassion differences between and within adults who do and do not stutter and to predict self-compassion on quality of life in adults who stutter. Results Adults who do and do not stutter exhibited no significant differences in total self-compassion, regardless of participant gender. A simple linear regression of the total self-compassion score and total Overall Assessment of the Speaker's Experience of Stuttering score showed a significant, negative linear relationship of self-compassion predicting the impact of stuttering on quality of life. Conclusions Data suggest that higher levels of self-kindness, mindfulness, and social connectedness (i.e., self-compassion) are related to reduced negative reactions to stuttering, an increased participation in daily communication situations, and an improved overall quality of life. Future research should replicate current findings and identify moderators of the self-compassion–quality of life relationship.

Group Experiences and Individual Differences in Stuttering

2019 ◽  
Vol 62 (12) ◽  
pp. 4335-4350 ◽  
Author(s):  
Seth E. Tichenor ◽  
J. Scott Yaruss
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Support Groups ◽  
Support Group ◽  
Affective States ◽  
Life Outcomes ◽  
Self Help ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Group Experiences ◽  
History Of ◽  
Adults Who Stutter

Purpose This study explored group experiences and individual differences in the behaviors, thoughts, and feelings perceived by adults who stutter. Respondents' goals when speaking and prior participation in self-help/support groups were used to predict individual differences in reported behaviors, thoughts, and feelings. Method In this study, 502 adults who stutter completed a survey examining their behaviors, thoughts, and feelings in and around moments of stuttering. Data were analyzed to determine distributions of group and individual experiences. Results Speakers reported experiencing a wide range of both overt behaviors (e.g., repetitions) and covert behaviors (e.g., remaining silent, choosing not to speak). Having the goal of not stuttering when speaking was significantly associated with more covert behaviors and more negative cognitive and affective states, whereas a history of self-help/support group participation was significantly associated with a decreased probability of these behaviors and states. Conclusion Data from this survey suggest that participating in self-help/support groups and having a goal of communicating freely (as opposed to trying not to stutter) are associated with less negative life outcomes due to stuttering. Results further indicate that the behaviors, thoughts, and experiences most commonly reported by speakers may not be those that are most readily observed by listeners.

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