Implicit and explicit motor learning in children and adults who stutter

口吃儿童和成人的内隐和外显运动学习

• 批准号: RGPIN-2015-05869
• 负责人: DeNil, Luc
• 金额: $ 1.75万
• 依托单位: University of Toronto
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2019
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2019-01-01 至 2020-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=679778
• 关键词: Implicit; explicit; motor; learning; children

Developmental stuttering is a speech fluency disorder, which typically has its onset in pre-pubescent children. There is significant evidence that speech motor deficits are at the core of the disorder. These deficits, which likely are genetic and neural in nature, are considered fundamental to our understanding of the onset, development and recovery from stuttering. In our previous research, we have investigated the extent to which adults who stutter are deficient in their ability to acquire novel motor skills. Our results have demonstrated that these adults are less proficient than nonstuttering speakers acquiring new speech sequences, even after extensive practice. Early evidence of differences in skill consolidation between the stuttering and nonstuttering adults has suggested that this deficit may reflect both motor execution and motor learning processes. Importantly, our results also have shown clear parallels between deficient performance in both speech and non-speech (finger sequencing) motor skills, supporting the hypothesis that these deficiencies affecting people who stutter are not limited to speech articulation but may reflect a general motor deficit. ***Learning a motor skill is a procedural learning process during which performance improves gradually over many repetitions of the task. This process can be both explicit and implicit. Implicit motor learning refers to learning that is incidental, and in which participants are not aware of what they have learned and of how they perform the task. Explicit motor learning can be intentional, and participants are conscious of their knowledge and can report it. These two learning strategies are suggested to reflect different learning mechanisms that rely on distinct neural substrates. We have hypothesized that both implicit and explicit learning may be involved in the development of stuttering but the relative weight of these two processes has not been investigated. Implicit motor learning clearly is important during the early development of speech and it has been suggested that people who stutter may rely to a larger extent on explicit strategies. In addition, both implicit and explicit learning may be affected by the presence of an unstable sensorimotor speech system. Importantly, it has been proposed that explicit learning relies on the establishment of stable internal motor models. The failure to do so for speech may lead to disrupted speech fluency. Unraveling the unique contributions of implicit and explicit motor learning in the development of stuttering is critical to understanding this speech fluency disorder. The proposed project outlines studies aimed at investigating motor learning skills in children and adults who stutter. The project will contribute significantly to our understanding of the nature and development of stuttering and will inform the ongoing refinement of motor control models for speech.**

发展性口吃是一种语言流畅障碍，通常发生在青春期前的儿童身上。有重要的证据表明，言语运动缺陷是这种疾病的核心。这些缺陷在本质上可能是遗传的和神经的，被认为是我们理解口吃的发生、发展和恢复的基础。在我们之前的研究中，我们调查了口吃的成年人在多大程度上缺乏获得新运动技能的能力。我们的研究结果表明，即使经过大量的练习，这些成年人在掌握新的语言序列方面也不如非口吃者熟练。早期证据表明，在口吃和非口吃的成年人之间，技能巩固的差异表明，这种缺陷可能反映了运动执行和运动学习过程。重要的是，我们的结果也显示了言语和非言语（手指排序）运动技能缺陷之间的明显相似之处，支持了这些缺陷影响口吃者的假设，即这些缺陷不仅限于言语表达，而且可能反映了一般的运动缺陷。学习一项运动技能是一个程序性的学习过程，在此过程中，通过多次重复的任务，性能逐渐提高。这个过程可以是显式的，也可以是隐式的。内隐运动学习指的是偶然的学习，在这种学习中，参与者没有意识到他们学到了什么，也不知道他们是如何完成任务的。外显的运动学习可以是有意的，参与者意识到他们的知识并可以报告它。这两种学习策略被认为反映了依赖于不同神经基质的不同学习机制。我们假设内隐和外显学习都可能参与口吃的发展，但这两个过程的相对权重尚未被调查。内隐运动学习在言语发展的早期阶段显然很重要，有人认为口吃的人可能在更大程度上依赖于外显策略。此外，内隐和外显学习都可能受到不稳定的感觉运动语言系统的影响。重要的是，有人提出外显学习依赖于稳定的内部运动模型的建立。如果不能做到这一点，可能会导致语言流畅性的中断。揭示内隐和外显运动学习在口吃发展中的独特贡献对于理解这种语言流利障碍至关重要。拟议的项目概述了旨在调查口吃儿童和成人运动学习技能的研究。该项目将对我们理解口吃的本质和发展做出重大贡献，并将为正在进行的言语运动控制模型的改进提供信息