Objective: A neuroscientific picture-word task was used to investigate semantic and phonological activation spreading in adults who stutter (AWS). Method: Fourteen AWS and 14 adults who do not stutter (AWNS) participated. On each trial, a picture was named at a delay. Sometimes, an attended probe word was heard before naming. Some probes were Semantically-Related to the labels. Those same probes also appeared following pictures with Unrelated labels. N400 ERPs recorded to these two probe types were compared (Semantically-Related versus Unrelated). Other probes were Phonologically-Related to the labels. Those same probes also appeared following pictures with unrelated labels (P-Unrelated). N400 ERPs recorded to these two probe types were compared (Phonologically-Related versus P-Unrelated). Results: AWNS exhibited typical N400 priming effects. AWS exhibited non-robust Semantic N400 priming, and a reverse Phonological N400 priming effect. Conclusions: Results suggest that AWS use attentional control strategies to influence the activation of words in the mental lexicon.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:USF/oai:scholarcommons.usf.edu:etd-2739 |
| Date | 01 June 2010 |
| Creators | Pizon-Moore, Angela A |
| Publisher | Scholar Commons |
| Source Sets | University of South Flordia |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | Graduate Theses and Dissertations |
| Rights | default |
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