title: Acute stress reduces speech fluency.
abstract: People often report word-finding difficulties and other language disturbances when put in a stressful situation. There is, however, scant empirical evidence to support the claim that stress affects speech productivity. To address this issue, we measured speech and language variables during a stressful Trier Social Stress Test (TSST) as well as during a less stressful "placebo" TSST (Het et al., 2009). Compared to the non-stressful speech, participants showed higher word productivity during the TSST. By contrast, participants paused more during the stressful TSST, an effect that was especially pronounced in participants who produced a larger cortisol and heart rate response to the stressor. Findings support anecdotal evidence of stress-impaired speech production abilities.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Saint Louis University, United States. Electronic address: Tbuchan7@slu.edu.
authors.forename: Tony W
authors.initials: TW
authors.lastname: Buchanan
authors.affiliation: Communication Sciences & Disorders Program and Neuroscience Institute, Georgia State University, United States.
authors.forename: Jacqueline S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Laures-Gore
authors.affiliation: Department of Communication Sciences & Disorders and Neurology, University of Iowa, United States.
authors.forename: Melissa C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Duff
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000339:Affect / Q000502:physiology; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D003142:Communication; D018592:Cross-Over Studies; D003627:Data Interpretation, Statistical; D004562:Electrocardiography; D005239:Fear / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006339:Heart Rate / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D006854:Hydrocortisone / Q000378:metabolism; D007802:Language; D008297:Male; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D012463:Saliva / Q000378:metabolism; D012931:Social Environment; D013060:Speech / Q000502:physiology*; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000523:psychology*; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D006854:Hydrocortisone
keywords: Cortisol; Language; Speech; Stress