Motor sequence learning, retention and transfer in children who stutter

语音是人类最复杂的运动行为之一，其特点是非常快速和精确的发音动作。控制语言及其发展的感觉运动机制还没有被很好地理解。他们在成人和儿童中使用典型的和无序的言语产生进行调查。目前的提案将重点放在口吃儿童的言语产生上，这是一种发育障碍，通常首先在青春期前儿童中被诊断出来，特征是言语流畅性中断。由于它同时具有流利和不流利的特点，其严重程度是可以操纵的，因此它构成了研究言语产生及其扰动的自然模型。我们小组之前完成的研究表明，口吃的成年人在获取新的运动序列方面表现出能力不足。由于这一点在言语和非言语行为中都很明显，我们假设存在普遍的运动障碍。这一观察使我们能够使用非言语运动任务来洞察对言语产生也很重要的过程。然而，成人获得的数据不一定与仍在发展运动技能的年幼儿童相关。我们计划通过研究有口吃和不口吃的儿童的言语和非言语动作学习来扩展我们之前的研究。将完成一些研究，调查儿童学习新语音和非语音(手指敲击)序列的能力。运动练习将被显性地呈现(孩子们被告知要练习什么)或含蓄地(孩子们不知道练习任务)。此外，还提出了控制任务完成过程中反馈频率的实验。最后，提出了一项功能磁共振成像研究，以分析儿童运动学习背后的神经过程。这项研究的结果将有助于我们理解言语运动控制过程的发展，并对可能导致言语障碍的过程有更深的理解。

Speech is one of the most intricate motor behaviours in humans characterized by very fast and precise articulatory movements. The sensorimotor mechanisms that control speech and its development are not well understood. They are investigated using typical as well as disordered speech production in adults and children. The current proposal focuses on speech production in children who stutter, which is a developmental disorder, typically first diagnosed in prepubescent children, characterized by disruptions of speech fluency. Because it is characterized by both fluent and disfluent speech, the severity of which can be manipulated, it constitutes a natural model for studying speech production and its perturbations. Previous research completed by our group has shown that stuttering adults show a deficit in their ability to acquire novel motor sequences. Because this is apparent in both speech and nonspeech behaviour we have hypothesized the presence of a generalized motor deficit. This observation allows us to use nonspeech motor tasks to gain insight into processes that are important for speech production also. However, data obtained in adults may not necessarily be relevant to younger children who are still developing their motor skills. We plan to extend our earlier research by investigating speech and nonspeech motor learning in children who do and do not stutter. A number of studies will be completed investigating children's abilities to learn novel speech and nonspeech (finger tapping) sequences. Motor practice will be presented either explicitly (children are told what to practice) or implicitly (children are not aware of the practice task). In addition, experiments are proposed which manipulate the frequency of feedback provided during task completion. Finally, a functional magnetic resonance imaging study is proposed to analyze the neural processes underlying motor learning in children. The results from this study will allow us to contribute to the understanding of the development of speech motor control processes and to gain a deeper understanding in the processes that may underlie disordered speech.