Hennessey Neville W, Dourado Esther, Beilby Janet M
School of Psychology and Speech Pathology, Faculty of Health Sciences, Curtin University, GPO Box U 1987, Perth, Western Australia 6845, Australia.
J Fluency Disord. 2014 Jun;40:44-57. doi: 10.1016/j.jfludis.2013.11.001. Epub 2013 Nov 19.
People with anxiety disorders show an attentional bias towards threat or negative emotion words. This exploratory study examined whether people who stutter (PWS), who can be anxious when speaking, show similar bias and whether reactions to threat words also influence speech motor planning and execution. Comparisons were made between 31 PWS and 31 fluent controls in a modified emotional Stroop task where, depending on a visual cue, participants named the colour of threat and neutral words at either a normal or fast articulation rate. In a manual version of the same task participants pressed the corresponding colour button with either a long or short duration. PWS but not controls were slower to respond to threat words than neutral words, however, this emotionality effect was only evident for verbal responding. Emotionality did not interact with speech rate, but the size of the emotionality effect among PWS did correlate with frequency of stuttering. Results suggest PWS show an attentional bias to threat words similar to that found in people with anxiety disorder. In addition, this bias appears to be contingent on engaging the speech production system as a response modality. No evidence was found to indicate that emotional reactivity during the Stroop task constrains or destabilises, perhaps via arousal mechanisms, speech motor adjustment or execution for PWS.
The reader will be able to: (1) explain the importance of cognitive aspects of anxiety, such as attentional biases, in the possible cause and/or maintenance of anxiety in people who stutter, (2) explain how the emotional Stroop task can be used as a measure of attentional bias to threat information, and (3) evaluate the findings with respect to the relationship between attentional bias to threat information and speech production in people who stutter.
焦虑症患者对威胁或负面情绪词汇存在注意偏向。这项探索性研究考察了口吃者（PWS）在说话时可能会焦虑，是否也表现出类似的偏向，以及对威胁词汇的反应是否也会影响言语运动计划和执行。在一项改良的情绪Stroop任务中，对31名口吃者和31名流利对照者进行了比较。根据视觉提示，参与者以正常或快速发音速度说出威胁和中性词汇的颜色。在同一任务的手动版本中，参与者按下相应颜色按钮的持续时间有长有短。与中性词汇相比，口吃者对威胁词汇的反应较慢，但对照者并非如此。然而，这种情绪效应仅在言语反应中明显。情绪与语速没有相互作用，但口吃者中情绪效应的大小确实与口吃频率相关。结果表明，口吃者对威胁词汇表现出与焦虑症患者相似的注意偏向。此外，这种偏向似乎取决于将言语产生系统作为一种反应方式。没有证据表明，在Stroop任务期间的情绪反应会通过唤醒机制、言语运动调整或执行，对口吃者的言语运动调整或执行产生限制或使其不稳定。
读者将能够：（1）解释焦虑的认知方面，如注意偏向，在口吃者焦虑的可能原因和/或维持中的重要性；（2）解释情绪Stroop任务如何用作对威胁信息的注意偏向的一种测量方法；（3）评估关于口吃者对威胁信息的注意偏向与言语产生之间关系的研究结果。
