Brain, Vol. 123, No. 10, 1983-1984,
October 2000
© 2000 Oxford University Press
Editorial |
Stuttering: dysfunction in a complex and dynamic system
Laryngeal and Speech Section, NINDS, NIH, Bethesda, Maryland, USA
Stuttering is a developmental speech disorder that usually appears between 3 and 8 years of age and often remits before puberty. When it persists past the close of the period of developmental plasticity, around puberty, it becomes a chronic adult speech disorder throughout the life span (Andrews et al., 1983
). The emergence of brain imaging has increased interest in exploring the long-held concept that persons who stutter have greater right hemisphere involvement in speech production than fluent speakers (Travis, 1978). By contrasting fluency-enhancing speaking conditions with those exacerbating stuttering, brain imaging studies have found increased activation in premotor regions bilaterally and greater right hemisphere involvement during stuttering. Comparisons
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