The Relationship Between Emotional Content and Phonological Processing in Persian Speaking Children Who Stutter: A Study by Event-related Potential

Emotion can contribute to the severity of stuttering, although the underlying mechanism is unknown. Event-related Potential (ERP) could be very helpful for assessing emotional processing in persons with stuttering. Our study aimed at the investigation of phonological processing for emotional and neutral words in Children Who Stutter (CWS) by ERP.

Ten CWS were given 120 emotional and neutral words to read. Phonological processing was assessed by aloud reading task, while simultaneously ERP was recorded. The results were analyzed as behavioral (reaction time and accuracy) and electrophysiological (amplitude and topography).

There were significant differences in reaction time and accuracy between positive, negative, and neutral words (P<0.05). The electrophysiological data analysis showed significant differences for a minimum of amplitude in the left frontal area, for a maximum of amplitude in the right temporal area, and peak to peak distance in the left frontal area (P<0.05). Visual inspection suggested that recorded fluctuations have a bigger amplitude range for neutral words in all brain regions, except prefrontal, frontal and right frontal.

Valence would affect behavioral measures. Generally, emotion facilitates word processing by reducing activity in anterior brain areas in phonological processing time.