Effects of Attentional Focus on Speech Motor Control in Adults Who Stutter and Its Relationship to Social Stress: A Pilot Project

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this pilot study was to assess speech motor variability in adults who stutter (AWS) compared to adults who do not stutter (ANS) when speaking under different attention focus condition with and without social stress. We also aimed to verify procedures and methods for eliciting social stress prior to the recruitment of a larger sample size. Method Three AWS (aged 24–32 years) and five ANS (aged 19–49 years) completed the State–Trait Anxiety Inventory (Speilberger et al., 1983), the Social Interaction Anxiety Scale (Mattick & Clark, 1998), and the Brief Fear of Negative Evaluation (Leary, 1983). Participants were required to repeat sentences under internal and external attentional focus conditions as well as in front of an audience. Objective measures of social stress were obtained by measuring skin conductance levels (SCL), an index of sympathetic nervous system activity, before and during an audience condition. Measures of posterior tongue variability were used as a measure of articulatory coordination. Results Descriptive analysis revealed some of the AWS self-reported higher scores on tests of anxiety. SCL increased from baseline to social stress conditions in both AWS and ANS, supporting the use of this procedure for eliciting feelings of social stress. AWS showed higher levels of SCL compared to ANS during both baseline and social stress conditions. Descriptive analysis indicated notable between-groups differences for posterior tongue variability during attention focus and social stress conditions. Conclusions Our findings offer preliminary insights into the role attention may play as a contributing factor to the effects of social stress on speech motor control. Although individual response patterns varied, findings can be used to make inferences about the role of attention on speech motor control in AWS and ANS.