Autonomic Correlates of Speech Versus Nonspeech Tasks in Children and Adults

Abstract

Purpose To assess autonomic arousal associated with speech and nonspeech tasks in school-age children and young adults. Method Measures of autonomic arousal (electrodermal level, electrodermal response amplitude, blood pulse volume, and heart rate) were recorded prior to, during, and after the performance of speech and nonspeech tasks by twenty 7- to 9-year-old children and twenty 18- to 22-year-old adults. Results Across age groups, autonomic arousal was higher for speech tasks compared with nonspeech tasks, based on peak electrodermal response amplitude and blood pulse volume. Children demonstrated greater relative arousal, based on heart rate and blood pulse volume, for nonspeech oral motor tasks than adults but showed similar mean arousal levels for speech tasks as adults. Children demonstrated sex differences in autonomic arousal; specifically, autonomic arousal remained high for school-age boys but not girls in a more complex open-ended narrative task that followed a simple sentence production task. Conclusions Speech tasks elicit greater autonomic arousal than nonspeech tasks, and children demonstrate greater autonomic arousal for nonspeech oral motor tasks than adults. Sex differences in autonomic arousal associated with speech tasks in school-age children are discussed relative to speech-language differences between boys and girls.

Sympathetic arousal of young children who stutter during a stressful picture naming task

“… 5 Consistent with some of these findings re AWS, related studies of adults who do not stutter and children who do not stutter Arnold et al (2014) and Kleinow & Smith (2006) reported higher autonomic arousal during challenging speaking conditions relative to other non-speaking conditions and non-challenging speaking conditions. …”

“…Interestingly, they found that children, when compared to adults, exhibited greater autonomic arousal as well as greater variability in their speech motor coordination, activity apparently associated with a less mature cognitive and linguistic system. Similarly, in a recent study of autonomic arousal of children and adults in speech and non-speech tasks, Arnold, MacPherson, & Smith (2014) reported that both children and adults demonstrated higher arousal for speech than non-speech tasks. In addition, Arnold et al (2014) found gender differences in children’s ANS activity during speaking tasks (i.e., higher arousal in boys than girls during a complex narrative task), a finding attributed to gender differences in speech and language skills.…”

“…In addition, gender differences have been reported in autonomic arousal and emotional responses of children and adults (e.g., Arnold et al, 2014; Boucsein, 1992; Chentsova-Dutton & Tsai, 2007). Therefore, gender was a covariate in analyses of hypotheses 2, 3, and 4.…”

“…Therefore, the exact nature of the mechanisms underlying the influence of autonomic activity on speech largely remains unknown. However, current evidence suggests that linguistic, cognitive, emotional and motor factors influence each other, and that autonomic activity, particularly arousal, impacts speech-language production (Arnold et al, 2014; Kleinow & Smith, 2006; Weber & Smith, 1990). Heightened autonomic arousal (i.e., greater emotional reactivity) during speaking may be problematic, for example, arousal may divert the speaker’s attentional resources from concurrent speech-language planning and production, increasing the likelihood of subtle to not so subtle breakdowns or disruptions in speech-language.…”

Acoustic Measures of Voice and Physiologic Measures of Autonomic Arousal during Speech as a Function of Cognitive Load

“…Second, the selected measures are established within the speech production literature and have been shown to be sensitive to speech production demands. 23, 31, 77 …”