Grant: Operating Grant

As a global health issue, stuttering affects millions of individuals (on average 1-2 % prevalence world-wide). It has a negative impact on the quality of life for many affected individuals and tends to be associated with social, emotional, and academic consequences. While the disorder and its manifestations have been examined in great detail, a precise understanding of the neural pathways and sensorimotor mechanisms involved in stuttering has yet to be obtained. Understanding the behavioral and neural mechanisms underlying stuttering is widely acknowledged as fundamental to informed diagnosis, and treatment as well as identifying etiological factors. Moreover, it is crucial for the development of novel clinical management approaches since most existing treatments use behavioral approaches that are prone to relapse. The required cornerstone for this knowledge is a theoretical framework of stuttering that accounts for the speech characteristics of stuttering consistent with models of sensorimotor control and neural function. The research proposed takes a comprehensive neurobiological approach to explaining the neural basis of stuttering through an integrated series of complementary experiments and empirical techniques. The works' direct relevance to public health lies in its contribution to insight into the neural mechanisms of stuttering which will facilitate the development of improved approaches to diagnosis and treatment.