Abstract

Reading-impaired children have difficulty tapping to a beat. Here we tested whether this relationship between reading ability and synchronized tapping holds in typically-developing adolescents. We also hypothesized that tapping relates to two other abilities. First, since auditory-motor synchronization requires monitoring of the relationship between motor output and auditory input, we predicted that subjects better able to tap to the beat would perform better on attention tests. Second, since auditory-motor synchronization requires fine temporal precision within the auditory system for the extraction of a sound’s onset time, we predicted that subjects better able to tap to the beat would be less affected by backward masking, a measure of temporal precision within the auditory system. As predicted, tapping performance related to reading, attention, and backward masking. These results motivate future research investigating whether beat synchronization training can improve not only reading ability, but potentially executive function and auditory processing as well.

 

Highlights

► Subjects were asked to tap along to a metronomic beat. ► Subjects whose taps were less variable performed better on tests of reading and attention. ► Tap variability was also inversely related to temporal precision within the auditory system. ► These results motivate research on cognitive and perceptual effects of synchronization training.

 

Full article for purchase here: The ability to tap to a beat relates to cognitive, linguistic, and perceptual skills – ScienceDirect