The Effect of a Four-Week Interval on the Consistency of Stuttering

Abstract

Our primary purpose was to test the hypothesis that the consistency normally found in the loci of stutterings in repeated readings of a passage declines if a four-week interval is interposed between readings. Nineteen stutterers read aloud two passages of equal length and difficulty. One passage was read twice in succession. The other was read twice with a four-week interval between readings. Consistency was defined as the percentage of stuttered words in the second reading that had also been stuttered in the first. We found a significant difference in consistency between the two conditions. The mean consistency was 62.6% in successive readings and 49.3% with the time interval interposed. Alternative explanations of this decrease are possible. The findings also extend a previous observation that significant consistency remains after a two-week interval and tend to confirm the view that learned responses to stimuli play a major role in the consistency effect.