The chosen quote very clearly states the emotional reactions can be trained or "conditioned" to trigger stuttering. Classical conditioning by every definition is learned behavior. Stuttering is not a learned behavior that happens through conditioning in any way. That theory has been disproven a long time ago and I am happy to send you more recent and up to date articles to show that. \>**If negative emotions frequently occur during speech**, environmental stimuli may become associated with these emotions **through classical conditioning**, which the authors call 'emotional learning.' These stimuli can then trigger the emotional effects **that lead to the 'disintegration' of speech**. If the below statement is true, then significantly more kids with a stuttering parent/family member would also in stutter since they have the disposition for it and are in an emotionally negative environment. That is incredibly unlikely due to the small number of people who stutter. If that was true, then my siblings should stutter, and most of my stuttering friends should have siblings or more family that stutter. \>For example, a child getting frustrated with a toy, being punished by their parents, or being afraid of the dark are all situations that trigger negative emotions and could lead to the physiological process of speech disintegration if speech occurs at the same moment. Clinically and academically stuttering is categorized into different descriptors. Primary behaviors are the actual speech (prolongation, repetition, blocks). Secondary behaviors are any other movement which is what you describe and are often learned behaviors. They do not make stuttered speech worse. That is a separate occurrence than the actual stuttered speech. \>"such as "pressing their lips together, over-articulating mouth movements, holding their breath, etc. These are dysfunctional strategies to overcome stuttering, which can also worsen fluency". I have read Brutten and Shoemaker's paper that you reference. They acknowledge other factors such as genetics or physiological aspects, but they put their primary weight on reinforced behaviors to cause stuttering. That has been widely disproven and rejected in modern and current research. Stuttering is not a learned behavior through emotional learning or classical conditioning. That was a theory proposed 50+ years ago and has been since proven incorrect repeatedly. Emotions do have a role in speech. language cognition, etc because humans do not communicate or function in a vacuum. However, it is significantly less than what you are making it out to be. We actually do have a lot of solid and more recently discovered research into how genetics play a role as well as neurological roles in speech production which I am happy to send you. You are correct we do not have any solid statements to say "this is what causes stuttering" but all recent research (within the last 15-20 years) points in the opposite direction from your proposed theory and state that it is a mix of genetics and neurobiology and can be influenced by outside factors (not caused by it). Stuttering is not a learned behavior from emotional learning or classical conditioning.