Musical rhythm discrimination explains individual differences in grammar skills in children

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 rh...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Developmental science 2015-07, Vol.18 (4), p.635-644
Main Authors: Gordon, Reyna L., Shivers, Carolyn M., Wieland, Elizabeth A., Kotz, Sonja A., Yoder, Paul J., Devin McAuley, J.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Child
Child, Preschool
Cognitive Ability
Discrimination
Female
Grammar
Humans
Individuality
Language Acquisition
Language Development
Language Skills
Male
Morphology (Languages)
Music
Music Activities
Nonverbal Ability
Perceptual Development
Periodicity
Phonetics
Phonological Awareness
Semantics
Skill Development
Socioeconomic Status
Syntax
Verbal Ability
Young Children
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Summary: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 of this article can be viewed at: http://youtu.be/_lO692qHDNg Rhythm and grammar skills were tested in typically developing 6‐year‐old children. A robust correlation was found between musical rhythm perception and grammar production.
ISSN:1363-755X
1467-7687
DOI:10.1111/desc.12230