Individual differences in neural markers of beat processing relate to spoken grammar skills in six-year-old children

Valentina Persici; Scott D Blain; John R Iversen; Alexandra P Key; Sonja A Kotz; J Devin McAuley; Reyna L Gordon

doi:10.1016/j.bandl.2023.105345

Individual differences in neural markers of beat processing relate to spoken grammar skills in six-year-old children

Brain Lang. 2023 Nov:246:105345. doi: 10.1016/j.bandl.2023.105345. Epub 2023 Oct 31.

Authors

Valentina Persici¹, Scott D Blain², John R Iversen³, Alexandra P Key⁴, Sonja A Kotz⁵, J Devin McAuley⁶, Reyna L Gordon⁷

Affiliations

¹ Vanderbilt Brain Institute, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA; Department of Psychology, University of Milano - Bicocca, Milan, Italy; Department of Otolaryngology - Head & Neck Surgery, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, USA; Department of Human Sciences, University of Verona, Verona, Italy. Electronic address: valentina.persici@univr.it.
² Department of Psychiatry, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.
³ Department of Psychology, Neuroscience and Behaviour, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada; Institute for Neural Computation, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA.
⁴ Vanderbilt Brain Institute, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA; Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, USA; Vanderbilt Kennedy Center, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, USA.
⁵ Department of Neuropsychology and Psychopharmacology, Maastricht University, Maastricht, the Netherlands; Department of Neuropsychology, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany.
⁶ Department of Psychology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA.
⁷ Vanderbilt Brain Institute, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA; Department of Otolaryngology - Head & Neck Surgery, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, USA; Vanderbilt Kennedy Center, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, USA; Department of Psychology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA. Electronic address: reyna.gordon@alumni.usc.edu.

PMID: 37994830
DOI: 10.1016/j.bandl.2023.105345

Abstract

Based on the idea that neural entrainment establishes regular attentional fluctuations that facilitate hierarchical processing in both music and language, we hypothesized that individual differences in syntactic (grammatical) skills will be partly explained by patterns of neural responses to musical rhythm. To test this hypothesis, we recorded neural activity using electroencephalography (EEG) while children (N = 25) listened passively to rhythmic patterns that induced different beat percepts. Analysis of evoked beta and gamma activity revealed that individual differences in the magnitude of neural responses to rhythm explained variance in six-year-olds' expressive grammar abilities, beyond and complementarily to their performance in a behavioral rhythm perception task. These results reinforce the idea that mechanisms of neural beat entrainment may be a shared neural resource supporting hierarchical processing across music and language and suggest a relevant marker of the relationship between rhythm processing and grammar abilities in elementary-school-age children, previously observed only behaviorally.

Keywords: Dynamic attending; EEG; Language development; Musical rhythm; Syntax.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural

MeSH terms

Auditory Perception / physiology
Child
Electroencephalography
Humans
Individuality*
Language
Linguistics
Music*

Abstract

Publication types

MeSH terms

Grants and funding