Autonomic Nervous System Response to Speech Production in Stuttering and Normally Fluent Preschool-Age Children

Abstract

Purpose We studied speech-related sympathetic nervous system arousal of preschool-age children who do (CWS) and do not stutter (CWNS) and its association with children's proclivity to experience negative emotions and children's self-reported attitudes toward speaking. Method Electrodermal activity measures were collected from 32 preschool-age children while they engaged in a picture description and a nonword repetition task. Children's proclivity to experience negative emotions was assessed with a parent report questionnaire. Children's communication attitude was assessed with a self-report questionnaire. Results CWS did not differ from CWNS in their sympathetic arousal during a picture description task. However, during a more challenging nonword repetition task, preschool-age CWS had a higher sympathetic arousal level than CWNS. Although CWS were rated by their caregivers as more fearful and prone to sadness, children's tendency to experience stronger and more frequent negative emotions was not associated with their sympathetic arousal during speaking. Lastly, although CWS had a more negative communication attitude than CWNS, it was not associated with their level of sympathetic arousal during speaking. Conclusions Our findings suggest that age-appropriate social communication tasks are not inherently more stressful for preschool-age CWS and are not associated with state-related stress or anxiety that is often reported for adults who stutter. However, speaking tasks that place a higher demand on children's cognitive–linguistic system may be more taxing and challenging to preschool CWS than CWNS, leading to a higher level of arousal.

Emotional Reactivity and Regulation in Preschool-Age Children Who Do and Do Not Stutter: Evidence From Autonomic Nervous System Measures

“…However, our findings with the other autonomic nervous system measures (SCL and RSA) corroborate the existing psychophysiological studies of preschool-age CWS. Specifically, a recent study from our laboratory (Tumanova and Backes, 2019) and the studies of others (Jones et al, 2014;Zengin-Bolatkale et al, 2015) reported no significant differences in baseline SCL between preschool-age CWS and CWNS. According to the Polyvagal Theory (Porges, 2009), children who demonstrate lower RSA at rest experience more vulnerability to emotional reactivity and less emotional regulation.…”

“…First, to establish a pre-experimental baseline for each participant's resting skin conductance level and heart rate, participants viewed an animated screensaver of a three-dimensional fish tank for four min. The screensaver contained minimal action and had been previously successfully used to establish baseline levels of electrodermal activity and heart rate in preschool-age children (e.g., Jones et al, 2014;Tumanova and Backes, 2019). Next, the participants completed two experimental conditions: (1) viewing pictures with negative valence, and (2) viewing pictures with neutral valence.…”

“…Results of these studies generally indicate that CWS do not have an elevated level of autonomic arousal during speaking. However, between-group differences in arousal, based on age (Zengin-Bolatkale et al, 2015) and task complexity (Tumanova and Backes, 2019), as well as within-CWS differences, based on stuttering chronicity (Zengin-Bolatkale et al, 2018), and speech fluency have been observed.…”

“…Psychophysiological research with children who stutter is somewhat limited. However, recently a number of studies have examined CWS's autonomic nervous system response to such speaking conditions as picture naming, picture description, and non-word repetition (Jones et al, 2014(Jones et al, , 2017Zengin-Bolatkale et al, 2015Choi et al, 2016;Tumanova and Backes, 2019;Walsh and Usler, 2019;. Results of these studies generally indicate that CWS do not have an elevated level of autonomic arousal during speaking.…”

Leveraging big data for classification of children who stutter from fluent peers

“…While social anxiety is commonly reported in adults who stutter, the same has not been consistently reported in children who stutter. Direct examination of emotional processing in children who stutter has been rare, though some studies have reported subtle differences in CWS in terms of autonomic nervous system responses to challenging speech tasks (nonword repetition; (Tumanova & Backes, 2019)) or emotionally stressful stimuli ((Jones et al, 2014; Walsh et al, 2019). The current BBS results suggest that brain networks linked to emotional regulation and their connectivity with cognitive control networks may differentiate children who stutter.…”