Comment #4: >*"Sometimes I speak better when I can look into somebody’s eyes"* I think that “Looking into someone’s eyes” can either feel empowering or threatening.. , depending on which value judgements we associate with it. If it helps you feel connected and authentic (a value judgement that basically says "we shoujld stutter less if we feel authentic"), it might boost fluency. But if it makes you feel more exposed or judged (value judgement), it could do the opposite. Again, I think it depends on whether we’ve linked that stimulus to some internal “rule” or expectation for how we believe speech *should* go. And note here, even "feelin negatively judged" is a stimulus itself and which can either increase or decrease stuttering. There is a stigma about in the stuttering community, that if certain stimuli are perceived (such as social anxiety, authority stress etc) then it will almost invariably make stuttering worse, which is a false belief/assumption. For example, those things either don't affect my stuttering or make my stuttering slightly better, depending on my own value judgement (i.e., cognitive appraisal) (which are subconscious.. over time, it was conditoined that way as a young child, I'd say). I'd say that even "worrying about stuttering" can either increase or decrease our approach-avoidance conflict or the "malfunctioning" of our appropriateness regulator. For example, if I have a value judgement: "More worry means that I should speak even better than normal, which means that I should rely on less expectations for speech execution to proceed." Then the stimulus "worrying about stuttering" can improve fluency. So in the end, I’m starting to think it’s not the situation itself, but our personal, momentary *interpretation* that makes all the difference. What do you think? I'd love to hear more about how you've experienced this! So. I'm trying to say, that I think that stimuli will only affect stuttering. If we condition the stimulus with the malfunctioning of the appropriateness regulator. In other words, it'll affect my stuttering if I associate the stimulus with a "rule" (or expectation) for speech execution to proceed. For example: "*If I perceive that I look into someone's eyes and my "conditions of my value judgements" are met, then my subconscious allows speech execution to proceed, and thus not trigger the approach-avoidance conflict*." Your thoughts?