Differences in auditory verbal working memory between adults who do and do not stutter on an N-back task

Purpose

The purpose of this study was to investigate auditory verbal working memory in adults who do (AWS) and do not (AWNS) stutter using a highly demanding linguistic N-back task.

Methods

Fifteen AWS and 15 AWNS matched in age, gender and educational level were asked to hear series of words and respond by pressing a “yes” button if the word they just heard was the same as the word one, two, or three trials back. Words were either phonologically similar (i.e., Phonological Linguistic Condition) or phonologically dissimilar (i.e., Neutral Linguistic Condition). Accuracy and false alarms rates as well as reaction time on correct target trials, missed target trials and false alarms were collected and analyzed.

Results

Differences were not found between AWS and AWNS in accuracy. Both groups were more accurate and significantly faster in 1- followed by 2- followed by 3-back trials. However, AWS were significantly slower than AWNS in the 2-back level, regardless of linguistic condition. Furthermore, AWS demonstrated more false alarms compared to AWNS.

Conclusion

Results revealed differences in auditory verbal working memory and interference control between AWS and AWNS when processing highly linguistically demanding stimuli.