Altered morphology of the nucleus accumbens in persistent developmental stuttering

Recent theories of basal ganglia functions suggest that the nucleus accumbens is a motivation-to-movement interface. A speaker intends to reach communicative goals, but stuttering can derail these efforts. It is therefore highly plausible to find alterations in the motivation-to-movement interface in stuttering. While behavioral studies of stuttering sought to find links between the limbic and sensorimotor system, we provide the first neuroimaging evidence of alterations in the limbic system. Thus, our findings might initialize a unified neurobiological framework of persistent developmental stuttering that integrates sensorimotor and social-motivational neuroanatomical circuitries.