Non-linguistic auditory processing and working memory update in pre-school children who stutter: an electrophysiological study.

Non-linguistic auditory processing and working memory update were examined with event-related potentials (ERPs) in 18 children who stutter (CWS) and 18 children who do not stutter (CWNS). Children heard frequent 1 kHz tones interspersed with rare 2 kHz tones. The two groups did not differ on any measure of the P1 and N1 components, strongly suggesting that early auditory processing of pure tones is unimpaired in CWS. However, as a group, only CWNS exhibited a P3 component to rare tones, suggesting that developmental stuttering may be associated with a less efficient attentional allocation and working memory update in response to auditory change.