The role of social anxiety and attentional focus in a virtual reality environment on articulatory control in adults who stutter

Purpose Adults who stutter (AWS) show a maladaptive attentional focus when speaking under socially stressful conditions and at the same time, attentional focus has shown to impact articulatory control in this population. The purpose of this study was to determine the predictive factors of social anxiety and attentional focus on articulatory control in AWS compared to a group of adults who do not stutter (ANS), varying in social anxiety levels. Method Seventeen AWS and 23 ANS repeated sentences in a virtual reality environment under a low- and high- socially stressful condition. Attentional focus was unsolicited and allowed to occur naturally and spontaneously. Social stress was measured using skin conductance levels changes (SCLdiff) and an anxiety questionnaire (Anxiety-Q). Attentional focus was measured using the Focus of Attention Questionnaire (FAQ). Speech motor control was assessed by measuring movement duration (DUR) and lip aperture variability using the spatiotemporal index (LA STI). Multiple regression analyses were performed to examine the effects of social anxiety (Anxiety-Q, SCLdiff) and attentional focus (FAQ) on speech motor control (DUR, LA STI). Results Preliminary testing showed significant differences in DUR and LA STI in the AWS compared to ANS. Multiple regression analyses showed increases in anxiety significantly predicted increases in articulatory variability but not DUR for the AWS. No significant associations were found between anxiety and attentional focus, nor for the duration of movement. Conclusion Results showed social anxiety predicts changes in articulatory variability in AWS when speaking under social stress, while attentional focus plays a lesser, insignificant role.