Characteristic Patterns of Brain Activation in Adults with Developmental Stuttering in Reading Katakana Words Aloud

Abstract

To elucidate the neural basis of stuttering, brain activation for reading words was compared between adults who do and do not stutter (AWS/ANS) with functional MRI. Japanese native speakers read aloud familiar (F), unfamiliar (U) and pseudo- (P) words of 4 or 5 syllables. P contained much fewer native syllable sequences than F or U. F primarily activated the left angular/supramarginal gyri (lAG/SMG), U Broca's area, and P the left ventral premotor/motor areas (lvPMA/MA), respectively, in ANS. AWS showed lower activation in lAG/SMG and Broca's area, but higher activation in lvPMA/MA, implying that AWS cannot read native syllable sequences as efficiently as ANS.