Effects of Emotional Processes on Speech Motor Control in Early Childhood Stuttering.

The Influence of Contextual and Constitutional Emotional Processes on Speech Motor Control and Speech Motor Learning in Early Childhood Stuttering

This study will compare speech variability between preschool-age children who stutter and typically fluent, age-matched peers. Differences in emotional reactivity, regulation and speech motor control have been implicated in stuttering development in children. This study seeks to understand further how these processes interact. Children will repeat a simple phrase after viewing age-appropriate images of either negative or neutral valence to assess speech motor control.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Stuttering, Childhood
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Speaking after viewing pictures with negative and neutral valence

Detailed Description

Stuttering is a developmental disorder that emerges in the preschool years as children are undergoing rapid development of their speech, language, and emotional regulation processes. This study aims to understand how speech motor control and emotional processes interact in young children who do and do not stutter.

In Aim 1, the investigators will be observing how speech motor control and learning are affected by emotional (physiological) arousal. High arousal (e.g., stress) has been shown to disrupt highly skilled performances such as in sports and music performance (Yoshie et al., 2009). Parents of children who stutter often report that that exciting or stressful situations lead to increased stuttering in their children. There is little research, however, on how excitement or stress affects fluency in children.

In Aim 2, the investigators will observe how behavioral inhibition plays a role in speech motor control and motor learning in the context of emotional processes. Behavioral inhibition is one aspect of a child's temperament. Temperament refers to self-regulation as well as emotional, motor, and attentional reactivity that differs among individuals. Children with high behavioral inhibition (BI) are hyper-vigilant and more sensitive to new stimuli and negative emotional states. Therefore, the purpose of Aim 2 is to see if children with high BI are more susceptible to contextual emotional processes, therefore affecting speech motor control and learning.

Outcomes will be measured by calculating the variability in speech motor movements (STI). The two groups, children who stutter and age-matched peers who do not stutter, will be compared to see how speech motor control varies between groups and conditions.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 68
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • New York
    • Syracuse, New York, United States, 13244
      • Syracuse University, Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 3 years to 10 years (Child)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

1. English as the primary language of communication.
2. No history of neurological diseases or diagnosed speech-language disorders apart from stuttering.
3. Parent report or direct observation of oral-facial structural abnormalities (such as cleft lip and/or cleft palate).
4. Free of any medications that may affect neural functions (e.g., medications of seizures).
5. Normal hearing acuity (must pass a hearing screening).
6. Normal vision per parent report.

Exclusion Criteria:

1. Failure to meet the inclusionary criteria listed above
2. Parental report of neurodevelopmental disorders (such as autism spectrum disorders)
3. Parental report of vision problems that are not corrected or corrected with glasses.

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Basic Science
• Allocation: N/A
• Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

1

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm

Intervention / Treatment

Experimental: Experimental Condition; Speaking while viewing images with negative and neutral valence

Behavioral: Speaking after viewing pictures with negative and neutral valence; Speaking Condition 1: 10 age-appropriate pictures from the International Affective Picture System (IAPS; Lang, Bradley & Cuthbert, 2005) will be shown to participants. These pictures are classified as high arousal, negative valence stimuli. Participants will be asked to repeat a simple phrase between picture presentations. Speaking Condition 2: A blank screen will be shown to participants in place of pictures. This condition is classified as low arousal, neutral valence. Participants will be asked to repeat a simple phrase between blank screen picture presentations.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
The spatiotemporal index (STI) of lip aperture during a negative valence condition on Day 1 (pretest).	The spatiotemporal index (STI), a measure of speech coordination developed by Smith and colleagues (e.g., Smith, Goffman, Zelaznik, Ying & McGillem, 1995). It will be employed to quantify speech motor control ability and speech motor learning effects. The STI reflects the degree to which repeated performance of a task produces movement trajectories that converge on a single pattern. Children produce less stable movement trajectories, as reflected in higher values of the STI (e.g. Smith & Goffman, 1998), while adults produce more stable movement trajectories as reflected in lower STI values. The STI of lip aperture (a relative distance between upper and lower lips) will be calculated.	through study completion, an average of 3 weeks
The spatiotemporal index (STI) of lip aperture during a neutral valence condition on Day 1 (pretest).	The spatiotemporal index (STI), a measure of speech coordination developed by Smith and colleagues (e.g., Smith, Goffman, Zelaznik, Ying & McGillem, 1995). It will be employed to quantify speech motor control ability and speech motor learning effects. The STI reflects the degree to which repeated performance of a task produces movement trajectories that converge on a single pattern. Children produce less stable movement trajectories, as reflected in higher values of the STI (e.g. Smith & Goffman, 1998), while adults produce more stable movement trajectories as reflected in lower STI values. The STI of lip aperture (a relative distance between upper and lower lips) will be calculated.	through study completion, an average of 3 weeks
The spatiotemporal index (STI) of lip aperture during a negative valence condition on Day 2 (retention).	The spatiotemporal index (STI), a measure of speech coordination developed by Smith and colleagues (e.g., Smith, Goffman, Zelaznik, Ying & McGillem, 1995). It will be employed to quantify speech motor control ability and speech motor learning effects. The STI reflects the degree to which repeated performance of a task produces movement trajectories that converge on a single pattern. Children produce less stable movement trajectories, as reflected in higher values of the STI (e.g. Smith & Goffman, 1998), while adults produce more stable movement trajectories as reflected in lower STI values. The STI of lip aperture (a relative distance between upper and lower lips) will be calculated.	through study completion, an average of 3 weeks
The spatiotemporal index (STI) of lip aperture during a neutral valence condition on Day 2 (retention).	The spatiotemporal index (STI), a measure of speech coordination developed by Smith and colleagues (e.g., Smith, Goffman, Zelaznik, Ying & McGillem, 1995). It will be employed to quantify speech motor control ability and speech motor learning effects. The STI reflects the degree to which repeated performance of a task produces movement trajectories that converge on a single pattern. Children produce less stable movement trajectories, as reflected in higher values of the STI (e.g. Smith & Goffman, 1998), while adults produce more stable movement trajectories as reflected in lower STI values. The STI of lip aperture (a relative distance between upper and lower lips) will be calculated.	through study completion, an average of 3 weeks

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Skin conductance level (SCL)	Skin conductance level (SCL) measures the activity of the sympathetic branch of the autonomic nervous system. Higher SCL during experimental conditions as compared to the baseline is associated with higher sympathetic nervous system activity and provides physiologic validation of the emotional reactivity differences between the experimental conditions.	through study completion, an average of 3 weeks
Number of phasic skin conductance responses elicited by picture presentations	Phasic skin conductance responses (SCR) measures the activity of the sympathetic branch of the autonomic nervous system. It is elicited by specific stimuli (in this study, by the pictures presented in the two experimental conditions).Greater number of SCRs elicited by picture presentations during experimental conditions is associated with higher sympathetic nervous system activity and provides physiologic validation of the emotional reactivity differences between the experimental conditions.	through study completion, an average of 3 weeks
Respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA)	Respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) (rhythmic fluctuations in heart rate associated with the respiratory cycle) measures the activity of the parasympathetic branch of the autonomic nervous system. Decreased RSA during the experimental conditions as compared to the baseline provides physiologic validation of the emotional reactivity differences between the experimental conditions.	through study completion, an average of 3 weeks
Executive function (EF) composite score	Executive function skills will be assessed through behavioral tasks using the NIH Toolbox Early Childhood Cognition Battery (Gershon et al., 2013; Zelazo et al., 2013). The tasks include the Flanker Inhibitory Control and Attention Test to examine inhibitory control, Picture Sequence Memory Test to examine episodic memory, and Dimensional Change Card Sort Test to examine mental flexibility and attention.	through study completion, an average of 3 weeks

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Syracuse University
• Collaborators: National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD)
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Victoria Tumanova, PhD, Syracuse University

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): May 21, 2021
• Primary Completion (Actual): September 30, 2025
• Study Completion (Actual): September 30, 2025

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: July 22, 2021
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: August 5, 2021
• First Posted (Actual): August 12, 2021

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): January 30, 2026
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: January 28, 2026
• Last Verified: January 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: preschool; motor learning; motor control; stuttering; emotional processes; behavioral inhibition
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Neurologic Manifestations; Nervous System Diseases; Neurobehavioral Manifestations; Communication Disorders; Language Disorders; Speech Disorders; Pathological Conditions, Signs and Symptoms; Signs and Symptoms; Stuttering
• Other Study ID Numbers: R21DC018103 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract); R21DC018103-01A1 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No