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

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

doi:10.1016/j.bandl.2023.105345

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

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Kotz, Sonja A.
Department of Neuropsychology and Psychopharmacology, Maastricht University, the Netherlands;
Department Neuropsychology, MPI for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Max Planck Society;

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Citation

Persici, V., Blain, S. D., Iversen, J. R., Key, A. P., Kotz, S. A., Devin McAuley, J., et al. (2023). Individual differences in neural markers of beat processing relate to spoken grammar skills in six-year-old children. Brain and Language, 246: 105345. doi:10.1016/j.bandl.2023.105345.

Cite as: https://hdl.handle.net/21.11116/0000-000D-DC7C-1

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.