Speech Pathology

In the field of speech pathology and audiology, there are endless aspects that can be studied, researched, and treated. Whether it involves swallowing disorders, speech disorders, cognitive-communication disorders, auditory processing disorders, degenerative diseases, or even accent modification for those without speech disorders, the possibilities for research are endless. Dr. Maxfield, an associate professor here at USF, conducts studies on the cognitive neuroscience of speech and language, with emphasis on the application of event-related potentials to study language processing in stuttering. Another line of research examines the oral comprehension of imperfect and degraded sentences (Maxfield, 2010). In a study that focused on adults who stuttered, Maxfield used both semantic and phonological picture-word priming in adults who stutter and discovered that these adults may have altered regulation of lexical activation spreading. (Nathaniel Maxfield, 2013) This is the area of speech pathology that I would like to base my research on.

When it comes to speech and language disorders, stuttering is easily one of the most common disorders that children and adults suffer with, and it is also one that is most commonly known by the public. To determine what mental processing aspects determine stuttering, along with the speech motor control disabilities, Dr. Maxfield put together a series of tests. He gathered a group of 28 people to do his study on – fourteen adults with stutters, and fourteen “typically fluent adults”. He performed studies to test semantic activation spreading in adults with stutters and phonological activation stuttering in adults with stutters. He used both visual priming and auditory cues to stimulate these process...

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...hoose to replace the word with if they know they are going to stutter.

Another aspect that I am interested in when it comes to this subject is the sensation the person feels when they are stuttering, how they have difficulty choosing a word, and how this feels emotionally for them. I want to know about all of the mental processes that happen behind it. I also am interested in what types of therapies can be used to fix this. I know that there are motor development therapies that can be used to correct mouth movements, but I am curious as to what therapies can be used to treat the mental aspect of it. I would like to conduct research on not only how the brain functions differently in stuttering, but how these functions can be improved to lead to normal speaking. I would be very much interested in working with Dr. Maxfield, or in a lab that conducts similar studies.