Great response! This is my attempt to shed some light on the definitions proposed: * **Inhibitory control**: According to my other post [https://www.reddit.com/r/Stutter/comments/18qxg2h/tips\_to\_improve\_stuttering\_according\_to\_the](https://www.reddit.com/r/Stutter/comments/18qxg2h/tips_to_improve_stuttering_according_to_the), Inhibitory control basically means the ability to suppress and regulate cognitive processes or motor responses - to prevent undesired actions (such as stuttered speech, as per that research), delay responses, or inhibit automatic reactions. So, inhibitory control helps in managing the execution of speech movements, and seems to be impaired in people who stutter. See my other comment [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/Stutter/comments/18qxg2h/comment/kf44o82/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3), where I explain it more detailed. Inhibitory control in stuttering is the ability to suppress (or hinder) the execution of speech movements to refrain from doing something we otherwise would. Instead of decision-making (or risk taking), we start questioning assumptions and considering other alternatives (such as implementing secondary or avoidance responses when we sense a loss of control). The role of inhibitory control is stimulus orienting, interference control, response flexibility, response cancellation and response restraint. People who stutter (PWS) have a reduced ability to inhibit or control certain instinctive or automatic responses. Let me give three examples: * PWS may struggle to adapt and continue to exhibit the same type of healthy response even after recognizing speech errors, anticipating stuttering or anticipating negative listener responses * PWS may perceive false alarms too quickly when encountering certain internal (like, speech errors) and external stimuli (like, perceiving that people are judging us) evoking a fight, flight or freeze response. Basically, PWS may tend to resort to secondary or avoidance responses (like substituting words, or stalling) too quickly and without actually needing to do so.. they just think they need to rely on it, for example, because they make anticipation bigger than it actually is (relying on wrong or incomplete information) * PWS may respond prematurely to a stimulus before they have sufficient information or before the correct time to respond, such as, research found that PWS already activate motor movements (such as tension, tremor or (abnormal) speech movements) before the actual onset of speech, for example, because they are anticipating stuttering or whichever other trigger they experience Inhibitory control falls under executive functions (which resides in the prefrontal cortex). Executive functions are basically cognitive processes responsible for managing aspects of behavior and thought - to organize, plan, initiate, and regulate actions. This brings us back to inhibitory control. Its goal is basically to control impulses, resist distractions, and withhold inappropriate responses. This is necessary for speech production. According to [this](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7704578/) research, AWS (adults who stutter) have diminished inhibitory control during lexical selection (specifically observed linguistic difficulties in word association and concept-related word selection) but intact inhibitory control in a nonlinguistic context. Also, domain-general inhibitory control is not significantly diminished in AWS. When faced with high competition among words (such as, heightened language demands, for example, when AWS try to describe complex pictures), greater inhibitory control is needed. Even with normal inhibitory control, errors in word selection may occur more often in AWS. This all can lead to prolonged lexical selection conflicts, perpetuating stuttering