Abstract
The perception of the musical rhythm has been suggested as one of the predicting factors for reading abilities. Several studies have demonstrated that children with reading difficulties (RD) show reduced neural sensitivity in musical rhythm perception. Despite this prior evidence, the association between music and reading in Chinese is still controversial. In the present study, we sought to answer the question of whether the musical rhythm perception of Chinese children with RD is intact or not, providing further clues on how reading and music might be interlinked across languages. Oddball paradigm was adapted for testing the difference of musical rhythm perception, including predictable and unpredictable omission, in elementary school children with RD and typically developing age-controlled children with magnetoencephalography (MEG). We used the cluster-based permutation tests to examine the statistical difference in neural responses. The event-related field (ERF) components, mismatch negativity (MMNm) and P3a(m), were elicited by the rhythmical patterns with omitted strong beats. Specifically, differential P3a(m) components were found smaller in children with RD when comparing the rhythmical patterns between predictable and unpredicted omission patterns. The results showed that brain responses to the omission in the strong beat of an unpredicted rhythmic pattern were significantly smaller in Chinese children with RD. This indicated that children with RD may be impaired in the auditory sensitivity of rhythmic beats. This also suggests that children with reading difficulties may have atypical neural representations of rhythm that could be one of the underlying factors in dysfluent reading development.
Highlights
Basic auditory processing ability might be involved in both language development and music abilities across cultures (Hämäläinen et al, 2009; Goswami et al, 2011; Flaugnacco et al, 2014)
The two clusters were suggested as MMNm (100–224 ms and 239–331 ms) and the response represented P3am showed around 300 ms (219– 330 ms)
In this MEG study with mismatch negativity (MMN)-paradigm, musical rhythm was used to study the auditory perception of children with reading difficulties compared to children with typical development
Summary
Basic auditory processing ability might be involved in both language development and music abilities across cultures (Hämäläinen et al, 2009; Goswami et al, 2011; Flaugnacco et al, 2014). Rhythm ability was found as a strong predictor of reading abilities in 53 children in a 5-year longitudinal study (David et al, 2007). The report indicated that rhythm ability was significantly correlated with phonological awareness and naming speed and predicted unique variance in pseudo-word reading ability 5 years later (David et al, 2007). Poor sensitivity for auditory cues might lead to difficulties in the perception of rhythmic structure of speech, which could affect the development of phonological awareness for reading skill development. In a follow-up study, the same musical tasks were re-administered after 1 year Those dyslexic children did significantly worse in the musical perception tasks than reading level matched children (Goswami et al, 2013). Huss et al (2011) showed that the music metrical sensitivity predicted phonological awareness and reading abilities and the metrical performance explained over 60% of the variance in reading along with IQ and age; the music perception (like rhythm perception) even showed stronger associations with reading than the abilities of phonological awareness
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