Elsevier

Biological Psychology

Volume 82, Issue 2, October 2009, Pages 116-124
Biological Psychology

A prepared speech in front of a pre-recorded audience: Subjective, physiological, and neuroendocrine responses to the Leiden Public Speaking Task

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsycho.2009.06.005Get rights and content

Abstract

This study describes a new public speaking protocol for youth. The main question asked whether a speech prepared at home and given in front of a pre-recorded audience creates a condition of social-evaluative threat. Findings showed that, on average, this task elicits a moderate stress response in a community sample of 83 12- to 15-year-old adolescents. During the speech, participants reported feeling more nervous and having higher heart rate and sweatiness of the hands than at baseline or recovery. Likewise, physiological (heart rate and skin conductance) and neuroendocrine (cortisol) activity were higher during the speech than at baseline or recovery. Additionally, an anticipation effect was observed: baseline levels were higher than recovery levels for most variables. Taking the anticipation and speech response together, a substantial cortisol response was observed for 55% of participants. The findings indicate that the Leiden Public Speaking Task might be particularly suited to investigate individual differences in sensitivity to social-evaluative situations.

Section snippets

Leiden Public Speaking Task

The Leiden Public Speaking Task (Leiden-PST) was developed in the context of a longitudinal study of Social Anxiety and Normal Development, the SAND study. Various intra-personal and inter-personal variables (e.g., sexual maturation, emotional functioning, negative cognitions, audience perception, temperament, social support) are studied so as to determine the relationship between these variables and the emergent pathways of social anxiety during adolescence. The specific requirements of this

Research questions

The present study's main question was whether the Leiden-PST creates a condition of social-evaluative threat. Are participants at all nervous when they give a speech in front of a pre-recorded audience, knowing that their speech will be evaluated by age peers and a teacher? Is a physical stress response elicited when participants have sufficient opportunity to prepare for the speech task? The second question asked whether the Leiden-PST elicits an anticipation effect due to the participant's

Participants

Participants were recruited in the context of a larger ongoing longitudinal study of social anxiety in children and adolescents from the general population, the Social Anxiety and Normal Development (SAND) study. All 83 seventh and eighth grade students from the larger study's sample were selected for the present study. Both males (n = 44) and females (n = 39) had a mean age of 13.6 (age range: 12.6–15.0 years). Participants were recruited from a high school located in the vicinity of the

Results

No significant main or interaction effects were found for either gender, age, or menstrual cycle. Furthermore, the statistical analyses were not influenced by the exclusion of participants who used oral contraceptives or had eaten, smoked, or consumed a caffeinated soft drink. Hence, the following analyses were conducted on all participants without reference to any of the above variables.

The present study's main question concerned the extent to which the Leiden-PST creates a condition of

Discussion

The purpose of this research was to develop, and evaluate, a public speaking protocol for youth, where participants have ample time to prepare their speech and deliver their speech in front of a pre-recorded audience. The main question asked whether the Leiden-PST creates a social-evaluative threat. The findings indicate that this task triggers substantial nervousness and physical responses. During the speech, participants reported feeling significantly more nervous and having higher heart rate

Conclusion

Given the subjective and physical responses obtained in this study it can be concluded that, on average, the Leiden-PST constitutes a mild social-evaluation threat. The findings suggest that this protocol might be particularly suited to investigate individual differences in sensitivity to social-evaluative situations as they occur in children and adolescents’ lives. It should, however, be noted that future research needs to establish the external validity of the Leiden-PST. Are the responses in

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    The public speaking laboratory developed for the Social Anxiety and Normal Development study (SAND) was supported by a special grant for experimental and psychobiological research from the Faculty of Social Sciences, Leiden University. Management and technical support was provided by Deborah Alexander, Jaco Dubbeldam, Jan de Koning, Neeltje Plug, Thijs Schrama, and Jan van der Velde. The pre-recorded audience was directed by Helene Kok.

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