>*"Because the evaluation still happens and it knows nothing will impede me in the following moments."* Comment #3: **Imagined concepts:** One way to look at this. is to think of “feared words” (such as, saying our feared name) - as part of a broader category of “**imagined concepts**.” These can include the idea that we’re a ‘severe or light stutterer,’ or that we *should* block on certain sounds. Authority figures is another popular imagined concept (that we might perceive as an error for speech execution to proceed), and the idea that we block more often on the first letter of a word.. or first word in a phrase is another popular "imagined" concept. What most stutterers do not realize is the "imagined concepts" extend to literally everything: from the way we view our stuttering (we believe we are a severe or light stutterer), to how we perceive our stutter identity, to how we believe we "should" stutter. All those imagined concepts can allude that stuttering is always around the corner, or that it's "finally time" to stutter (more) after a period of fluency. For example: After we struggle on the first word in a phrase, our subconscious basically tells us "it's time" to speak (more) fluently now. But why does our subconscious evaluate this? This is because it's basing the evaluation on the imagined concepts, and this extends far far far more than simply a feared word.. it extends to all words and all situations.. simply "saying something to someone", the whoel speech plan is a conditioned stimulus itself that the subconscious evaluates from a moment-to moment basis or in a milli-second time frame. Many of these beliefs or impressions operate silently in the background—and most stutterers aren't even aware they're there. But they trigger the approach-avoidance conflict. So: these imagined concepts are shaped by past experiences and distorted beliefs. For example, if we grew up with parents who stuttered, we might—without even realizing it—internalize the way *they* anticipated or feared speaking.. and dozens of other **imagined concepts**. This kind of observational learning, or imprinting, might make us more susceptible to a simiilar approach-avoidance conflict to execute speech. So even before any actual stuttering begins, those internal conflicts might already be brewing in children who don't stutter yet, but whose parents do stutter. genetics and neurology are part of the picture. But I don’t believe they *seal our fate*. sure, they might raise the risk of stuttering, especially around age 3, but I don’t think genetics and neurology hinder stuttering remission. Likely the approach-avoidance conflict primarily hinders us from achieving stuttering remission and subconscious fluency. One SLP ([1](https://www.reddit.com/r/Stutter/comments/1js7s1b/stutter_theory_from_a_speechlanguage_pathologist/), [2](https://www.reddit.com/r/Stutter/comments/1jsr4om/ive_been_summarizing_different_ideas_about/)) made an interesting point: that we don’t start off blocking on our first words. At age 2-3 we might start doing repetitions, but blocking comes when we start associating speaking with social expectations, performance, and the need to avoid errors. I think that social pressure might be where the approach-avoidance conflict (or rather it's poorly fine-tuning) starts to form, shape and condition