LAUSR

Abstract Stuttering is linked to sensorimotor deficits related to internal modeling mechanisms. This study compared spectral power and oscillatory activity of EEG mu (&mgr;) rhythms between persons who stutter (PWS) and controls in listening and auditory discrimination tasks. EEG data were analyzed from passive listening in noise and accurate (same/different) discrimination of tones or syllables in quiet and noisy backgrounds. Independent component analysis identified left and/or right &mgr; rhythms with characteristic alpha (&agr;) and beta (&bgr;) peaks localized to premotor/motor regions in 23 of 27 people who stutter (PWS) and 24 of 27 controls. PWS produced &mgr; spectra with reduced &bgr; amplitudes across conditions, suggesting reduced forward modeling capacity. Group time‐frequency differences were associated with noisy conditions only. PWS showed increased &mgr;‐&bgr; desynchronization when listening to noise and early in discrimination events, suggesting evidence of heightened motor activity that might be related to forward modeling deficits. PWS also showed reduced &mgr;‐&agr; synchronization in discrimination conditions, indicating reduced sensory gating. Together these findings indicate spectral and oscillatory analyses of &mgr; rhythms are sensitive to stuttering. More specifically, they can reveal stuttering‐related sensorimotor processing differences in listening and auditory discrimination that also may be influenced by basal ganglia deficits. HighlightsMu (&mgr;) rhythms identified in stuttering and matched control groups in auditory discrimination.Mu (&mgr;) rhythm spectra show reduced forward modeling capacity in stuttering group.Time‐frequency analyses show group differences in predictive coding strategies.