Is Stuttering Even Speech Related?

Written by Matthew O’Malley

Quote from the article:

“Experiencing a speech block or a stutter is something the person who stutters feels detached from.  It feels as though an element outside of their control is causing their speech block/stutter…a reasonable explanation is there is a subconscious formula that determines when an individual blocks and when an individual does not block (their speech flows).

Some factors that seem likely to contribute to this subconscious formula include:

1. Level of fear/anxiety
2. What the attention is focused on while speaking
3. How mandatory one believes it is they speak well and do not stutter
4. How aroused/excited/anxious one’s body is
5. What the underlying beliefs about stuttering are”

 

Introduction

Since stuttering is an observable behavior involving speaking, it makes sense that attention towards understanding it and treating it has been focused on speech.  It has largely been assumed (understandably so) that stuttering is a problem with speaking.

However, what if you learned there were stuttering-like behaviors that involved no speaking, but were strikingly similar to stuttering?

What if you learned there were golfers who could fluidly make practice swings, yet when they stepped up to actually hit the ball, they could only get half way through their golf swing and would then freeze or jerk?  Doesn’t this sound a lot like people who stutter speaking more fluently when alone?

What if similar stuttering-like behaviors happened to baseball pitchers, dart throwers, cricket players, basketball players, pool players, and the list goes on?  What if you learned there were cases of “penmanship stuttering”?  What if in all of these activities, individuals experienced a strange loss of control over the intended movements of their bodies just like people who stutter trying to speak?

What if you learned all of the above was true?  Well, it is.

In many of these activities, the condition is casually referred to as “the yips”.

While reading about this is informative, seeing is believing.  Below is a video of a celebrity golfer who has developed “the yips”.  You’ll see he is able to swing fluidly in a practice swing.  However, his golf swing involuntarily freezes when he tries to hit the ball.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-_Oji3mLV4

Common Denominators

In working to find the root of these very similar behavioral symptoms, let’s look at common denominators between all of them.

1. The above “conditions” involve movement of the body.  They are motor acts.
2. The person wanting to perform these movements experiences a loss of control.
3. The loss of control is mysterious to the person who experiences it. They have no explanations.
4. The loss of control (blocking/freezing/jerking) usually occurs under pressure. The movement can be performed fluidly when not under pressure.
5. It is not well understood and is difficult to treat or fix.
6. It affects learned skills involving fine motor movement.
7. There is usually an anticipatory anxiety which can become severe around an attempt at the desired movement.
8. The movement is very tied to the human reward system.  Immediately after the movement is performed, powerful positive or negative feedback is received.
   1. To further explain in an example, when a baseball pitcher performs the movements to throw a pitch in front of a crowd and it is a strike, the crowd may roar with approval.  The pitcher feels very good.  On the other hand, if he performs the movements to throw a pitch and the batter hits a home run, the fans of his team are disappointed.  He knows he has hurt his team’s chances of winning.  He feels negatively.  He is “punished” by the reward system.
   2. The same is true of speaking.  When an individual speaks with another person or a group, they perform movements of the speaking apparatus.  Immediately after speaking (making movements) they acquire feedback from their listener (the listener’s reaction).  This feedback can be positive or negative.  The person can accept them and approve of them based on what they say and how they say it.  Or, they can disapprove and dislike them.

 

The Human Motor System in General

In looking at the common denominators/similarities between stuttering and these other stutter-like behaviors (the yips) it becomes fairly clear that neither the physical apparatus nor its specific neurological “wiring’ are the root of the problem.

Well if the problem is not in the physical apparatus affected, where could it be?

Well, what underlies each of these movement behaviors is the human motor system in general.  What we are observing in these stutter-like behaviors or “yips” is a phenomenon of the motor system; not of any specific behavior nor specific physical body part.  Stutter-like behaviors can manifest in any part of the physical body where fine motor learned skills are possible.  It is quite plausible that it just so happens as speech is a skill learned by everyone, that stuttering in speech is by far the most common manifestation of this phenomenon of the motor system.

The Human Motor System Is Affected By Various Elements

The traditional thinking is that a person can move their body through simple operation of their will.  If I want to lift my arm, I can.  Just assert my will.

However, these stuttering- like behaviors are revealing a more complex movement system (motor system).

The human motor system is affected by numerous elements (keep in mind throughout that speaking is movement).  In what follows, I am going to focus on the effect fear and anxiety can have.

Fear and movement are deeply intertwined.  When an individual enters into a state of fear, it is a state where energy resources for movement are in abundance.  A fear state is designed to impact movement of the body to better enable it to fight a predator or flee or even freeze still.  The fight/flight/freeze response is a fear response rooted in survival whose purpose is largely to impact the body’s ability to move (to fight with maximum force, to flee with maximum speed, or to freeze perfectly in place).  This fear state affects the movement and motor system of the body dramatically.

Research

Fairly new research reveals how significant of a role fear can play in affecting movement and motor activity.  Let’s take a look.

Sagaspe, Schwartz & Vuilleumir, in “Fear and stop: A role for the amygdala in motor inhibition by emotional signals” state (2011):

“Our findings suggest that the amygdala may not only promote protective motor reactions in emotionally-significant contexts (such as freezing or defensive behavior) but also influence the execution of ongoing actions by modulating brain circuits involved in motor control, so as to afford quick and adaptive changes in current behavior.”

Let’s translate.  The amygdala is largely associated with fear responses.  The study quoted above brought on fear responses in their participants by showing them fearful faces while they were performing motor activities (movements).  The results were significant demonstrating the effects the fear inducing images had on motor movements.  So, when fear and the amygdala were activated it not only promoted certain actions/movements but it virtually controlled the very execution of the actions (movements).  It did this through the amygdala (fear center) affecting brain circuits directly responsible for motor control.  In other words, their findings suggest that fear can make movements itself by modulating the motor system.  This demonstrates a direct role where fear can control movement.

Discussion

 

Throughout this article, a case has been made that stuttering’s nature is not rooted in speech nor the speech mechanism.  However, its origins are rooted in the motor system in general.  This is based on the notion that there are many other “conditions” that are nearly identical to stuttering that affect various different parts of the body (arms, legs, etc.).

In further examining the nature of the motor system there is strong evidence that elements like fear and other emotions can be significant influences on motor performance.  Better yet these elements can at times, directly control motor performance (movements) or inhibit it.

Experiencing a speech block or a stutter is something the person who stutters feels detached from.  It feels as though an element outside of their control is causing their speech block/stutter.

In explaining this, a reasonable explanation is there is a subconscious formula that determines when an individual blocks and when an individual does not block (their speech flows).

Some factors that seem likely to contribute to this subconscious formula include:

6. Level of fear/anxiety
7. What the attention is focused on while speaking
8. How mandatory one believes it is they speak well and do not stutter
9. How aroused/excited/anxious one’s body is
10. What the underlying beliefs about stuttering are

 

I hope this has been an illuminating and thought-provoking vantage point on the nature of stuttering.  For the full version of this article and more information on stuttering, please visit, http://www.understandingdysfluency.com

 

Bibliographical Information

Sagaspe, P., Schwartz, S., & Vuilleumier, P. (2011). Fear and stop: A role for the amygdala in motor inhibition by emotional signals. NeuroImage,55(4), 1825-1835. doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2011.01.027

 

(2013, April 26). Retrieved September 27, 2017, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-_Oji3mLV4