Executive function in preschool children who stutter: a behavioral assessment study

Abstract Developmental stuttering is a speech disorder characterized by the repetition, prolongation, and blocking of speech sounds. It has been suggested that a decline in executive function is a background factor for preschool children who stutter. Executive function is defined as “goal-oriented t...

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Main Authors: Kohei Kakuta, Akihiro Kawasaki
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Nature Portfolio 2025-05-01
Series:Scientific Reports
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-00981-9
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author Kohei Kakuta
Akihiro Kawasaki
author_facet Kohei Kakuta
Akihiro Kawasaki
author_sort Kohei Kakuta
collection DOAJ
description Abstract Developmental stuttering is a speech disorder characterized by the repetition, prolongation, and blocking of speech sounds. It has been suggested that a decline in executive function is a background factor for preschool children who stutter. Executive function is defined as “goal-oriented thought, action, and emotion regulation.” At present, there are few previous studies that have comprehensively investigated the subcomponents of executive function in preschool children who stutter through behavioral experiments. We herein conducted age- and gender-matched case–control study to explore the characteristics of the subcomponents of executive function in preschool children who stutter compared with preschool children who do not. Consequently, we found lower performance in verbal and visual working memories in preschool children who stutter. The results of this study indicated that children who stutter show declines not only in verbal short-term memory performance, as has been pointed out in the past, but also in the performance of the entire working memory system, including central executive function.
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spelling doaj-art-8b0e43cae6e44dafabb631fb209e77432025-08-20T02:15:16ZengNature PortfolioScientific Reports2045-23222025-05-011511910.1038/s41598-025-00981-9Executive function in preschool children who stutter: a behavioral assessment studyKohei Kakuta0Akihiro Kawasaki1Department of Rehabilitation, Language and Hearing Therapy, Hospital, National Rehabilitation Center for Persons with DisabilitiesDepartment of Social Sciences, Ritsumeikan UniversityAbstract Developmental stuttering is a speech disorder characterized by the repetition, prolongation, and blocking of speech sounds. It has been suggested that a decline in executive function is a background factor for preschool children who stutter. Executive function is defined as “goal-oriented thought, action, and emotion regulation.” At present, there are few previous studies that have comprehensively investigated the subcomponents of executive function in preschool children who stutter through behavioral experiments. We herein conducted age- and gender-matched case–control study to explore the characteristics of the subcomponents of executive function in preschool children who stutter compared with preschool children who do not. Consequently, we found lower performance in verbal and visual working memories in preschool children who stutter. The results of this study indicated that children who stutter show declines not only in verbal short-term memory performance, as has been pointed out in the past, but also in the performance of the entire working memory system, including central executive function.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-00981-9StutteringPreschoolExecutive function
spellingShingle Kohei Kakuta
Akihiro Kawasaki
Executive function in preschool children who stutter: a behavioral assessment study
Scientific Reports
Stuttering
Preschool
Executive function
title Executive function in preschool children who stutter: a behavioral assessment study
title_full Executive function in preschool children who stutter: a behavioral assessment study
title_fullStr Executive function in preschool children who stutter: a behavioral assessment study
title_full_unstemmed Executive function in preschool children who stutter: a behavioral assessment study
title_short Executive function in preschool children who stutter: a behavioral assessment study
title_sort executive function in preschool children who stutter a behavioral assessment study
topic Stuttering
Preschool
Executive function
url https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-00981-9
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AT akihirokawasaki executivefunctioninpreschoolchildrenwhostutterabehavioralassessmentstudy