Children who stutter exchange linguistic accuracy for processing speed in sentence comprehension

Abstract

Comprehension of predicates and reflexives was examined in children who stutter (CWS) and children who do not stutter (CWNS) who were between 9 years, 7 months and 10 years, 2 months. Demands on working memory and manual reaction time were also assessed in two experiments that employed a four-choice picture-selection sentence comprehension task. CWS were less accurate than CWNS on the attachment of predicates. For reflexives, there was no between-group difference in accuracy, but there was a difference in speed. The two constructions induced processing at different points on a speed-accuracy continuum with CWS sacrificing accuracy to respond fast with predicates, while they maintained accuracy of reflexives by responding slower relative to CWNS. Predicates made more demands on language than nonspeech motor reaction time, whereas the reverse was the case with reflexives for CWS compared to CWNS.