Untying the knot of stuttering : investigatin the cognitives profiles of stutterers through multiple single-case studies
(2025)
Files
VanThorreAmelieThese.pdf
Embargo from 2026-10-30 - Adobe PDF
- 8.85 MB
Details
- Authors
- Supervisors
- Abstract
- Which cognitive processes essential to fluent speech are disrupted and give rise to stuttering? After decades of investigation, we have yet to provide a clear answer to this critical question. Researchers widely recognize that people who stutter (PWS) exhibit heterogeneous cognitive profiles, characterized by distinct patterns of cognitive strengths and weaknesses across the broad range of abilities required for fluent speech. However, despite this consensus, this recognition has had little influence on how stuttering has been empirically investigated. The present thesis seeks to address this gap by providing the first empirical demonstration of cognitive heterogeneity among adults who stutter (AWS). Employing a multiple single-case design, two complementary studies were conducted. The first study aims to determine whether PWS exhibit specific weaknesses in phonological working memory, that is, within processes independent of speech production ; while the second assessed the individual performance of twelve AWS across five domains critical for fluent speech: linguistic, auditory, somatosensory, rhythmic, and motor abilities. Our result reveals distinctive patterns of strengths and weaknesses across AWS in the domains tested. However, and surprisingly, weaknesses in orosensory perception emerge as a common feature, suggesting that these orosensory weaknesses may serve both as a necessary and sufficient condition for stuttering to emerge. These findings raise important implications for future research that aims to elucidate the cognitive mechanisms underlying stuttering. First, they suggest that orosensory perception has received insufficient attention in previous investigations and warrants further study, notably, it remains to be determined whether observed orosensory weaknesses are a causal factor in stuttering or rather a consequence of the disorder. Second, the heterogeneous patterns of strengths and weaknesses observed among AWS highlights the need for more comprehensive individual assessment and careful consideration of diverse profiles in both etiological research and intervention development. Taken together, these results indicate the necessity for a broader perspective in stuttering research that integrates comprehensive cognitive assessment into theoretical models, research designs, and clinical practices.
- Affiliations
UCLouvain SSH/IPSY - Psychological Sciences Research Institute
Citations
Van Thorre, A. (2025). Untying the knot of stuttering : investigatin the cognitives profiles of stutterers through multiple single-case studies. https://hdl.handle.net/2078.5/260961