**Stuttering and the “novelty effect”** It is well known and well-documented by research, that novel conditions generally promote a temporary experience of fluency in PWS. So, for example, if one starts to speak in an unusual way – with a different accent, different tone of voice, different loudness, different speed, any difference that is new is likely to promote increased fluency – thanks to the novelty effect. The same applies for learning a new technique, or going to see a new therapist. These are all novel experiences that trigger the orienting response and then also approach behaviour. Both the orienting response and approach behaviour (which is essentially an extension of the orienting response) are enabled by the phasic release of dopamine. This phasic release of dopamine essentially lowers the release threshold for the execution of motor commands, including speech motor commands, enabling us to act and to speak more easily. So suddenly we find that we have become more fluent. This new-found fluency might last for a few seconds, minutes, a few hours, days, weeks or even months. But it’s important to understand that it initially comes about simply because of the novelty effect, and not because the therapist or the technique are correct or good or helpful. It’s just novelty, and more often than not, and if a punishing stimulus then occurs that is strong enough to distract one’s attention away from the novelty, the older conditioned reflexes are likely to return, and the stuttering will come back. Occasionally, however, the benefits of the novelty effect are lasting… and as Schultz explains in above research, the novelty effect can open a window of opportunity for new learning (new conditioning). Whether or not that new learning takes place depends on a number of other factors, one of which is our understanding and interpretation of what is happening to us. Because of the increasing body of evidence that our cognitions are able to influence (and sometimes potentially over-ride) our conditioning, this gained widespread recognition. Anyway, this is just my own take on it.