@article{b2c7f295b58b4d10a4e0bb0f79b6a1fb,
title = "Individual differences in neural markers of beat processing relate to spoken grammar skills in six-year-old children",
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{\textquoteright} 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",
author = "Valentina Persici and Blain, {Scott D.} and Iversen, {John R.} and Key, {Alexandra P.} and Kotz, {Sonja A.} and {Devin McAuley}, J. and Gordon, {Reyna L.}",
note = "Funding Information: This project was supported by funding from the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, the Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research, the Office of the Director of the National Institutes of Health, and the National Institutes of Health under Award Numbers R03DC014802, K18DC017383, DP2HD098859, and R01DC016977. Use of REDCap was made possible by Grant UL1 TR000445 from the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS)/NIH. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health. Support was also provided by a Vanderbilt Kennedy Center Hobbs Discovery Grant. Scott D. Blain was supported by a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship (grant #1348264). Alexandra P. Key was supported by Eunice Kennedy Shriver NICHD grants P30HD15052 and U54HD083211 to Vanderbilt Kennedy Center. John R. Iversen was supported by National Science Foundation grants BCS1460885 and SMA1540943 and National Institutes of Health R01AA028411. The authors are grateful to Paul Yoder, Melanie Schuele, and Magdalene Jacobs for input on study design and Anna Kasdan and Leyao Yu for input on EEG processing steps. We express our appreciation to the families for participating, and we thank the following individuals for assistance with data collection and data management: Carolyn Shivers, Rachel Waters Joyner, Dorita Jones, Amber Vinson, Rita Pfeiffer, and Catherine Bush. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2023 The Author(s)",
year = "2023",
month = nov,
day = "1",
doi = "10.1016/j.bandl.2023.105345",
language = "English",
volume = "246",
journal = "Brain and Language",
issn = "0093-934X",
publisher = "Academic Press Inc.",
}