Imaging of the recovery from stuttering reveals spontaneous neuroplasticity

Background: People who stutter (PWS) overactivate a right-hemispheric network during speech production when compared with controls [1]. After fluency-shaping therapy, these overactivations shift to the left hemisphere as a result of cortical plasticity [2]. A subset of PWS can recover from stuttering even without therapy. To identify the network reflecting 'ideal' compensation and help to orientate future stuttering therapies, we studied the functional substrates of overt speech in this group compared with normal controls and PWS before and after therapy. Fig. 1 Fig. 2 Methods: Controls, unaided recovered PWS, a…