There is no definitive answer to why a person stutters. However, thanks to Frank Guenther and his research lab at Boston University, the mystery of stuttering has become a little clearer. With advances in brain activity monitoring technology, neuroscientists like Frank are able to explore stuttering in exciting new ways. Frank joins Maya and Cynthia for a conversation about his research on the underlying causes of stuttering and how it may be related to speech production. Other topics mentioned in the episode:History of stuttering research and early misconceptionsCorrelations between behavior development in childhood and fluencySimilarities between stutterers, neurotypical children, and adults with Parkinson’sIs there a connection between being bilingual and having a stutter?Stuttering differences in males and femalesOpportunities for future stuttering research Quotes from the episode: “There are probably subtypes of stuttering that we will eventually need to separate out if we truly want to understand the behavior because otherwise we will just keep seeing variability from study to study.”“Relatively little research has been done in females who stutter so one of the things that we hope to learn from our collaboration with Dr. Chang’s lab is whether there are different developmental trajectories for males and females that might give us more insight into what's happening and why it's more likely that a males will continue to stutter, compared to a female who stuttered as a child.”Mentioned in the episode:Guenther Lab at Boston UniversitySpeech Neurology Lab at the University of MichiganNIH Policy and Guidelines on The Inclusion of Women and Minorities as Subjects in Clinical ResearchBE PART OF THE SHOW:Rate this pod: https://ratethispodcast.com/proudstutter Have a question or comment - Leave a voicemail for Maya & Cynthia at (415) 964-0140 - this is a voicemail-only line, so we promise you won't have to talk to someone in person!Be a guest on the show - we would love to talk with you! Send us an email at: info@proudsutter.comFOLLOW PROUD STUTTER & ITS CREATORS:Maya’s Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/mayasharona Maya’s Twitter - https://twitter.com/MayaSharona Cynthia’s Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/cynthsta Podcast website - www.proudstutter.com Support us:Donate: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/proudstutterBuy cute merch: https://www.proudstutter.com/shop Share Proud Stutter with your friends: https://pod.link/1588336626 Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/proud-stutter/exclusive-contentAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy