An interventional study of Speaking after viewing pictures with negative and neutral valence in Stuttering, Childhood, sponsored by Syracuse University. Completed at 1 site in United States. Open to participants aged 3 Years to 10 Years, including healthy volunteers. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-01-30.
Sponsored by Syracuse University · Not applicable, Interventional, and Basic science
This study will compare speech variability between preschool-age children who stutter and typically fluent, age-matched peers. Differences in emotional reactivity, regulation and speech motor control have been implicated in stuttering development in children. This study seeks to understand further how these processes interact. Children will repeat a simple phrase after viewing age-appropriate images of either negative or neutral valence to assess speech motor control.
Stuttering is a developmental disorder that emerges in the preschool years as children are undergoing rapid development of their speech, language, and emotional regulation processes. This study aims to understand how speech motor control and emotional processes interact in young children who do and do not stutter.
In Aim 1, the investigators will be observing how speech motor control and learning are affected by emotional (physiological) arousal. High arousal (e.g., stress) has been shown to disrupt highly skilled performances such as in sports and music performance (Yoshie et al., 2009). Parents of children who stutter often report that that exciting or stressful situations lead to increased stuttering in their children. There is little research, however, on how excitement or stress affects fluency in children.
In Aim 2, the investigators will observe how behavioral inhibition plays a role in speech motor control and motor learning in the context of emotional processes. Behavioral inhibition is one aspect of a child's temperament. Temperament refers to self-regulation as well as emotional, motor, and attentional reactivity that differs among individuals. Children with high behavioral inhibition (BI) are hyper-vigilant and more sensitive to new stimuli and negative emotional states. Therefore, the purpose of Aim 2 is to see if children with high BI are more susceptible to contextual emotional processes, therefore affecting speech motor control and learning.
Outcomes will be measured by calculating the variability in speech motor movements (STI). The two groups, children who stutter and age-matched peers who do not stutter, will be compared to see how speech motor control varies between groups and conditions.
74 studies on the registry are indexed under Stuttering; 23 are open to participants now.
This study's enrollment of 68 is above the median of 44 across 57 interventional studies indexed under Stuttering.
Browse Stuttering studies →Syracuse University is the lead sponsor of 33 studies on the registry; 7 are open to participants now.
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Exclusion Criteria:
Speaking while viewing images with negative and neutral valence
Behavioral: Speaking after viewing pictures with negative and neutral valence
Speaking Condition 1: 10 age-appropriate pictures from the International Affective Picture System (IAPS; Lang, Bradley \& Cuthbert, 2005) will be shown to participants. These pictures are classified as high arousal, negative valence stimuli. Participants will be asked to repeat a simple phrase between picture presentations. Speaking Condition 2: A blank screen will be shown to participants in place of pictures. This condition is classified as low arousal, neutral valence. Participants will be asked to repeat a simple phrase between blank screen picture presentations.
The spatiotemporal index (STI) of lip aperture during a negative valence condition on Day 1 (pretest).
The spatiotemporal index (STI), a measure of speech coordination developed by Smith and colleagues (e.g., Smith, Goffman, Zelaznik, Ying \& McGillem, 1995). It will be employed to quantify speech motor control ability and speech motor learning effects. The STI reflects the degree to which repeated performance of a task produces movement trajectories that converge on a single pattern. Children produce less stable movement trajectories, as reflected in higher values of the STI (e.g. Smith \& Goffman, 1998), while adults produce more stable movement trajectories as reflected in lower STI values. The STI of lip aperture (a relative distance between upper and lower lips) will be calculated.
Time frame: through study completion, an average of 3 weeks
The spatiotemporal index (STI) of lip aperture during a neutral valence condition on Day 1 (pretest).
The spatiotemporal index (STI), a measure of speech coordination developed by Smith and colleagues (e.g., Smith, Goffman, Zelaznik, Ying \& McGillem, 1995). It will be employed to quantify speech motor control ability and speech motor learning effects. The STI reflects the degree to which repeated performance of a task produces movement trajectories that converge on a single pattern. Children produce less stable movement trajectories, as reflected in higher values of the STI (e.g. Smith \& Goffman, 1998), while adults produce more stable movement trajectories as reflected in lower STI values. The STI of lip aperture (a relative distance between upper and lower lips) will be calculated.
Time frame: through study completion, an average of 3 weeks
The spatiotemporal index (STI) of lip aperture during a negative valence condition on Day 2 (retention).
The spatiotemporal index (STI), a measure of speech coordination developed by Smith and colleagues (e.g., Smith, Goffman, Zelaznik, Ying \& McGillem, 1995). It will be employed to quantify speech motor control ability and speech motor learning effects. The STI reflects the degree to which repeated performance of a task produces movement trajectories that converge on a single pattern. Children produce less stable movement trajectories, as reflected in higher values of the STI (e.g. Smith \& Goffman, 1998), while adults produce more stable movement trajectories as reflected in lower STI values. The STI of lip aperture (a relative distance between upper and lower lips) will be calculated.
Time frame: through study completion, an average of 3 weeks
The spatiotemporal index (STI) of lip aperture during a neutral valence condition on Day 2 (retention).
The spatiotemporal index (STI), a measure of speech coordination developed by Smith and colleagues (e.g., Smith, Goffman, Zelaznik, Ying \& McGillem, 1995). It will be employed to quantify speech motor control ability and speech motor learning effects. The STI reflects the degree to which repeated performance of a task produces movement trajectories that converge on a single pattern. Children produce less stable movement trajectories, as reflected in higher values of the STI (e.g. Smith \& Goffman, 1998), while adults produce more stable movement trajectories as reflected in lower STI values. The STI of lip aperture (a relative distance between upper and lower lips) will be calculated.
Time frame: through study completion, an average of 3 weeks
Skin conductance level (SCL)
Skin conductance level (SCL) measures the activity of the sympathetic branch of the autonomic nervous system. Higher SCL during experimental conditions as compared to the baseline is associated with higher sympathetic nervous system activity and provides physiologic validation of the emotional reactivity differences between the experimental conditions.
Time frame: through study completion, an average of 3 weeks
Number of phasic skin conductance responses elicited by picture presentations
Phasic skin conductance responses (SCR) measures the activity of the sympathetic branch of the autonomic nervous system. It is elicited by specific stimuli (in this study, by the pictures presented in the two experimental conditions).Greater number of SCRs elicited by picture presentations during experimental conditions is associated with higher sympathetic nervous system activity and provides physiologic validation of the emotional reactivity differences between the experimental conditions.
Time frame: through study completion, an average of 3 weeks
Respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA)
Respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) (rhythmic fluctuations in heart rate associated with the respiratory cycle) measures the activity of the parasympathetic branch of the autonomic nervous system. Decreased RSA during the experimental conditions as compared to the baseline provides physiologic validation of the emotional reactivity differences between the experimental conditions.
Time frame: through study completion, an average of 3 weeks
Executive function (EF) composite score
Executive function skills will be assessed through behavioral tasks using the NIH Toolbox Early Childhood Cognition Battery (Gershon et al., 2013; Zelazo et al., 2013). The tasks include the Flanker Inhibitory Control and Attention Test to examine inhibitory control, Picture Sequence Memory Test to examine episodic memory, and Dimensional Change Card Sort Test to examine mental flexibility and attention.
Time frame: through study completion, an average of 3 weeks
PDFs hosted by the registry, ClinicalTrials.gov.
Plan to share: No
Ran from May 2021 to primary completion in Sep 2025, 52 months.
Of 37 interventional studies with no phase under Stuttering, half reached primary completion within 28 months of starting (the median), counting those still running; a quarter within 9 and three quarters within 38. This study's 52 months is above that.
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This study is completed, as verified in Jan 2026. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.
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