Article2014

Musical rhythm discrimination explains individual differences in grammar skills in children

Reyna L. Gordon · Carolyn M. Shivers · Elizabeth A. Wieland · Sonja A. Kotz · Paul J. Yoder · J. Devin McAuley

183 citations0/0 files storedDevelopmental Science

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Language Development and Disorders Neurobiology of Language and Bilingualism Neuroscience and Music Perception

Abstract

This study considered a relation between rhythm perception skills and individual differences in phonological awareness and grammar abilities, which are two language skills crucial for academic achievement. Twenty-five typically developing 6-year-old children were given standardized assessments of rhythm perception, phonological awareness, morpho-syntactic competence, and non-verbal cognitive ability. Rhythm perception accounted for 48% of the variance in morpho-syntactic competence after controlling for non-verbal IQ, socioeconomic status, and prior musical activities. Children with higher phonological awareness scores were better able to discriminate complex rhythms than children with lower scores, but not after controlling for IQ. This study is the first to show a relation between rhythm perception skills and morpho-syntactic production in children with typical language development. These findings extend the literature showing substantial overlap of neurocognitive resources for processing music and language. A video abstract of this article can be viewed at: http://youtu.be/_lO692qHDNg.

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References

2001Comprehensive Test of Phonological Processing 2010A temporal sampling framework for developmental dyslexia 2005Specific Language Impairment is not Specific to Language: the Procedural Deficit Hypothesis 1999Signal to Syntax; Bootstrapping from Speech to Grammar in Early Acquisition 2002Relations among musical skills, phonological processing, and early reading ability in preschool children 2010Music, rhythm, rise time perception and developmental dyslexia: Perception of musical meter predicts reading and phonology 2011The Effect of a Music Program on Phonological Awareness in Preschoolers 2008Rhythmic motor entrainment in children with speech and language impairments: Tapping to the beat

Cited by

2015Evidence for a rhythm perception deficit in children who stutter 2015Awareness of Rhythm Patterns in Speech and Music in Children with Specific Language Impairments 2015Perspectives on the rhythm–grammar link and its implications for typical and atypical language development 2019Successful second language learning is tied to robust domain-general auditory processing and stable neural representation of sound 2016Temporally Regular Musical Primes Facilitate Subsequent Syntax Processing in Children with Specific Language Impairment

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