Effects of contingent events on stuttering and fluency

In Study 1 with 4 male 18-20 yr old stutterers, the effect on stuttering frequency of contingent monetary gain and contingent monetary loss for stuttering was examined individually for over 12 hrs, using control periods when no contingency was present. Both contingencies resulted in decreased stuttering, suggesting that the effect of observing and recording instances of stuttering was more powerful than the money. In Study 2, monetary gain and loss was made contingent on units of fluent speech for 5 male and 1 female 17-34 yr old stutterers over 12 hrs. Fluency increased for the group during monetary gain, but monetary loss did not have the predicted effect of decreasing fluency, perhaps because the contigent events served also to enhance self-observation. (15 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved).