Electrodermal Activity of Preschool-Age Children Who Stutter During a Child-Friendly Stroop Paradigm

Purpose: The aim of the study was to assess whether emotional reactivity, indexed by a distinct physiological measure of sympathetic activation, differs between preschool-age children who stutter (CWS) and preschool-age children who do not stutter (CWNS) during a child-friendly Stroop task (i.e., day-night task). Additionally, researchers aimed to assess whether the Stroop task, com-pared to a control task, was a significant physiological stressor.Method: Fifteen preschool-age CWS and 22 preschool-age CWNS were asked to perform a day-night Stroop task in order to elicit psychophysiological reac-tivity, indexed by electrodermal response (EDR) occurrence frequency and EDR amplitude. Physiological measurements were recorded during pretask baselines, performance of the day-night Stroop task, and performance of a speech -language control task.Results: Findings based on EDR measures did not support the hypothesis that the child-friendly day-night Stroop task is an effective stressor as compared to a control task based on measures of physiological arousal in preschool-age children. The CWS and CWNS did not significantly differ in their EDR measures relative to the control task or Stroop task (p > .05). However, CWS, compared to CWNS, exhibited significantly greater EDR amplitudes during the control task baseline (p < .05) and the Stroop task baseline (p < .05).Conclusion: Overall, these findings may suggest that a predisposition to height-ened levels of sympathetic activity prior to tasks in preschool-age CWS is important to consider with regard to the nature of developmental stuttering.