Unravelling the behavioural and neurophysiological correlates of cognitive control and bilingualism in adults with developmental stuttering.

When using one language, bilingual individuals engage repeatedly their cognitive control network to resolve cross-language interference because of the parallel activation of the non-target language. In comparison to monolinguals, this possibly results in structural and functional differences responsible for improved cognitive reserve in older bilingual adults or even individuals with neurodegenerative disorders. In contrast to that improved cognitive function in bilinguals, adults with developmental stuttering display deficits in cognitive control. Since bilingualism and stuttering seem to have a common cognitive foundation, the question arises whether bilingualism is more of a protective or risk factor to stuttering. The objective of this project is to unravel the fundamental organisation of cognitive control of the language network involved in speech perception using neurophysiological and behavioural techniques. This approach will provide better understanding of the neurophysiological basis of the interaction between bilingualism and stuttering and will provide insights into the nature of developmental stuttering itself.