Heart Rate Variability as a Predictor of Speaking Anxiety

Abstract

This study examines the relations among the perception of speaking anxiety and difficulties in emotion regulation with 2 measures of physiological activity: heart rate (HR) and heart rate variability (HRV). Results show significant changes in HR and state anxiety, but not HRV, among the 6 experimental conditions: quiet, reading in both sitting and standing positions, and speaking in both sitting and standing positions. HRV significantly and negatively correlated with difficulties in emotion regulation and HR, but not with public speaking apprehension (PSA) scores or state anxiety ratings. PSA scores, however, were significantly and positively correlated with state anxiety ratings. Results are interpreted in terms of the simultaneous, coordinated operation of physical reactions and emotional coping strategies.

Keywords:

• Emotion Regulation
• Heart Rate
• Heart Rate Variability
• Public Self-Consciousness
• Speaking Anxiety
• State Anxiety

This research was supported by a Grant #410-2007-0261 from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada to Peter D. MacIntyre. We thank the participants in the research, the editor and reviewers for their comments, professor W. J. Clemens for advice on the methodology, and the faculty in the Communication Department at Cape Breton University who allowed us to recruit participants from their classrooms.

Notes

The main effect of body position approached significance, and it would seem advisable for future research to continue to test for changes in heart rate variability across experimental conditions.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Valerie A. MacIntyre

Valerie A. MacIntyre (BSc Honors in Psychology, Cape Breton University, 2008) is currently completing her MSc in Occupational Therapy at the University of Western Ontario.

Peter D. MacIntyre

Peter D. MacIntyre (PhD, University of Western Ontario, 1992) is a full professor in the Department of Psychology at Cape Breton University.

Geoff Carre

Geoff Carre (PhD, Memorial University, 1994) is an assistant professor in the Department of Psychology at Cape Breton University.