Abstract
This study assesses factors influencing the capacity to maintain a steady rhythm during explicit counting activities. There are three counting paces (count every 800, 1200, or 1600 ms) and three experimental conditions (count silently, aloud and aloud in the presence of someone). The study also assesses the effect of a speech disorder, namely stuttering, on this counting ability by comparing the performance of a group of adult stutterers (n = 21) to that of a group of adult non-stutterers (n = 24). For temporal variability, in addition to replicating the fact that counting more slowly leads to lower performance, the results show that there are benefits to expect when participants count aloud instead of silently. There is no main effect of group, but the interaction between the experimental condition, the counting pace, and the group is significant. Adult non-stutterers are better than adult stutterers in the silent and long time-interval conditions (1600 ms). The significantly higher variability at 1600 ms indicates a loss of efficiency in the capacity to keep time constant when counting is slow, and it is in this condition that stutterers will gain the most benefits from counting aloud instead of silently.
Notes
Five participants did not disclose their age.
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Acknowledgements
We would like to thank Geneviève Belleville, Vincent Martel-Sauvageau, and Jamie McArthur for their comments on this project. This study was presented at the 17th Rhythm Perception and Production Workshop held in Traverse City, Mi, in June 2019. This study was supported by a research Grant (Grant No. RGPIN-2016-05028) from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada to SG.
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This study was supported by a research Grant (Grant No. RGPIN-2016-05028) from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada to Simon Grondin.
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Mathieu Plamondon has developed the design of this research project under the supervision of Simon Grondin. The collection and statistical analyses of the data were done by Mathieu Plamondon; these analyses were verified by Simon Grondin. The manuscript was written by Simon Grondin and Mathieu Plamondon. Both authors approved the final version of this manuscript.
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Plamondon, M., Grondin, S. Counting fast or slow, aloud or silently? A comparison of adult stutterers and non-stutterers. Cogn Process 21, 461–467 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10339-020-00955-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10339-020-00955-x