Psychobiological Stress Reactivity and Personality in Persons With High and Low Stressor-Induced Extralaryngeal Reactivity

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of the study was to determine whether persons who responded with high stressor-induced extralaryngeal muscle activity in a stress reactivity protocol differed from those with low muscle activity on measures of emotional and autonomic cardiovascular reactivity and personality. Method Thirty-six vocally healthy women (18–35 years) were assigned to high and low extralaryngeal groups based on submental (SM) and infrahyoid (IH) surface electromyography (sEMG) recordings obtained during a stress reactivity protocol (high vs. low sEMG SM and sEMG IH , n = 18 per subgroup; Dietrich & Verdolini Abbott, 2012). Measures included assessments of basic fear and fear of public speaking, rumination, systolic blood pressure (SBP), and personality. Results The high sEMG IH group reported significantly greater basic fear across experimental phases than did the low sEMG IH group ( p = .036). However, the high sEMG SM and sEMG IH versus low sEMG SM and sEMG IH groups did not differ on fear of public speaking, rumination, or SBP across phases. Both high sEMG SM and sEMG IH groups were characterized by significantly lower scores on Extraversion ( p < .001). Conclusion In combination with the authors' previous findings (Dietrich & Verdolini Abbott, 2012), the present findings provided robust evidence that low Extraversion was linked to stressor-induced changes in extralaryngeal functioning and that perceived fear played a contributing role.