🧠 A new comprehensive hypothesis proposes that stuttering is not solely a speech production issue but involves a complex interplay of neurodevelopmental, physiological, and clinical factors. It links moment-to-moment speech fluctuations with brain alterations.

🧠 Situational variability is a core feature of stuttering, meaning severity changes across different contexts. This variability is categorized into stereotypical, time-based, and individual differences, challenging previous models that focused on static dysfunctions.

🧠 The right inferior frontal gyrus (rIFG) is identified as a key player, potentially acting as both a compensatory mechanism and a causal factor in stuttering, particularly due to its altered connectivity and sensitivity to "warning signals" generated by the self-monitoring system (SMS) during speech.

🧠 Dopamine dysregulation, specifically elevated extracellular dopamine due to potential D2 autoreceptor dysfunction, is proposed as a unifying mechanism. This leads to a "functional dopamine deficit," contributing to symptoms like ADHD and influencing the striatum and other brain regions.

#StutteringResearch #Neuroscience #SpeechDisorders