An examination of the effects of linguistic abilities on communication stress, measured by blinking and heart rate, during a telephone situation

The purpose of the present study was to examine the differences in communic ation stress responses, as they were affected by levels of linguistic abili ty, and measured by heart rate and blinking during a telephone communicatio n. Nine female participants were selected as representative of die medium l evel of communication skills and linguistic level assessed by questionnaire s. They were assigned to three conversation tasks: Japanese, English and Fr ench. The questionnaires (STAI and Iceberg Profile) were also assessed. The results showed that both blinking rate and heart rate during the English a nd the Japanese tasks were higher than during the French task. Results from the questionnaires showed that the highest communication stress occurred d uring the conversation in English.