Gagan Bajaj

Me, My Stuttering, and Them! Effect of Self-Disclosure of Stuttering on Listener Perception:

Purpose: A common question encountered by speech-language pathologists while dealing with adults who stutter (AWS) is whether their disclosure of stuttering to listeners would change their perception. The purpose of this study was to assess the impact of self-disclosure and speaker sex on adult listeners’ perceptions of simulated stuttering. Method: The study involved a group of 100 college students between the age range of 18 and 25 years, who judged the videotaped speech samples of 1 male and 1 female person, who simulated stuttering in disclosed and undisclosed state. The listener perception was evaluated through a questionnaire developed for the purpose. Results: The trends suggested that a female AWS possessed overall better listener perception as compared with male AWS in undisclosed condition and received better perception by listeners in more domains than male AWS in disclosed state. Conclusions: Listener perception seems to be a sex-specific phenomenon which gets affected by one’s disclosure about stuttering and the culture of the listeners.

Effect of working memory training on cognitive communicative abilities among young and middle aged adults

Abstract Objective: Cognitive training gains have been reported to be larger among young adults in comparison to older adults. However, differences in the magnitude of improvements between the earlier ages of adulthood have been less explored. In this attempt, the aim of the present study was to investigate the working memory training effects on cognitive communicative abilities among young- and middle-aged adults. Method: An interventional research design was incorporated. Thirty young- (19–40 years) and middle-aged (40–65 years) adults each, were recruited from the community and randomly assigned into the experimental and control groups. The experimental groups received 10 sessions of working memory training. Pre- and post-training assessments were performed and data was statistically analyzed. Results: The data analysis revealed no statistically significant difference in the training effects between young- and middle-aged adults, though young adults showed higher trends of improvement with training. Conclusion: The study highlights the importance of initiating working memory training at an early age to enhance or restore one’s cognitive abilities as age progresses.