Leiden Public Speaking Task

The Leiden Public Speaking Task assesses physiological reactivity to social evaluation threat. The task contains five phases: baseline (of which 5 minutes standing, 15 minutes after start of the baseline), anticipation (3 mins), preparation (5 mins), speech delivery (5 mins), and recovery (of which 5 mins standing, approximately 10 mins after the end of the speech). During the baseline, the participant watches a wildlife documentary. In the anticipation phase, the participant is remembered about the upcoming task and detailed instructions are given again. Subsequently, the participant is given some time to prepare the speech (preparation phase). Participants are asked to deliver their speech in front of a pre-recorded audience consisting of age-matched peers and a teacher (Avero & Calvo, 1999; Westenberg et al., 2009). A camera is installed and participants are told that they are recorded and will later be judged by an age-matched class somewhere around the country. After the speech, participants fill in a questionnaire on potential control variables, e.g., caffeine, medication intake or drug use, night rest, and illnesses. Finally, during the recovery phase, the participant watches another wildlife video.

In RADAR, the procedure of the task was based on the procedure of Westenberg et al. (2009). However, a small adaptation was made: whereas in the original protocol the experimenter entered the test room for an interview directly after the speech, in the current protocol this interview was skipped so that the participant was alone in the test room during the entire session after installation of the equipment and marginal practical instructions. In addition, a Visual Analogue Scale (VAS; see also (Davey, Barratt, Butow, & Deeks, 2007) was used to assess experienced nervousness at five points in time, being before baseline, after the baseline, directly after the speech (concerning the speech and afterwards), and after recovery. Participants were asked to rate how nervous they felt on a 10 cm line. The lines were printed on separate pages and participants were instructed to turn pages after each VAS assessment, so they could not see their previous answers.

Citation Loading citation...
Keywords
Constructs
Waves
  • Young Cohort

  • RY - W5
    •   CC
    17.0 years   From 2010-02-01 to 2010-05-31
  • RY - W6
    •   CC
    18.0 years   From 2010-12-01 to 2011-02-28
    Mode of collection MeasurementsAndTests    Behavioral/cognitive task ECG Biological sample/measurement
    Analysis unit Individual
    Instrument name Leiden Public Speaking Task
    Measure name Stress reactivity
    References
    Westenberg, P. M., Bokhorst, C. L., Miers, A. C., Sumter, S. R., Kallen, V. L., van Pelt, J., & Blöte, A. W. (2009). A prepared speech in front of a pre-recorded audience: Subjective, physiological, and neuroendocrine responses to the Leiden Public Speaking Task☆. Biological Psychology, 82(2), 116–124. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsycho.2009.06.005
    Avero, P., & Calvo, M. G. (1999). Emotional reactivity to social-evaluative stress: genderdifferences in response systems concordance. Personality and Individual Differences, 27(1), 155–170. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0191-8869(98)00229-3
    Davey, H. M., Barratt, A. L., Butow, P. N., & Deeks, J. J. (2007). A one-item question with a Likert or Visual Analog Scale adequately measured current anxiety. Journal of Clinical Epidemiology, 60(4), 356–360. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclinepi.2006.07.015
    You can also access this dataset using the API (see API Docs).