Phonological awareness is an important component of early literacy and many children struggle to master its key elements, such as the ability to hear syllables and rhymes within the speech stream. The hypothesis explored within this study is that since music and language have parallel auditory perceptual mechanisms then training in rhythmic activities, such as music, could lead to increased understanding of the rhythmic nature required to decode early language and literacy skills. Previous research investigating the relationship between the constructs of music perception and phonological awareness has been promising, but generally inconclusive. Within the study I examine whether there is a link between the temporal processing required to process rhythmic entrainment in both phonological awareness skills and music. The data are interpreted with respect to a theoretical framework linking music and language based on temporal sampling. The ‘temporal sampling theory’ (Goswami, 2011) suggests that the decoding of both language and music is linked to the perception of accent and beat, and that the ability to hear the onset of these accents is critical within a stream of auditory events. To this end rhythmic entrainment tasks were presented in a range of musical activities including drumming along to music and singing nursery songs and rhymes. The musical and rhythmic activities were given in several different forms, to see which would be most effective in showing the children’s ability to synchronise to a beat. These were all presented at four pulse rates (400 ms, 500 ms, 666 ms, 1000 ms). Data were collected over a period of 2 years commencing in November 2009. In Study1 93 4 and 5-year-old children were tested and in Study 2 data were collected from a further 99. In addition to psychometric tests for IQ, Word Recall, teachers from the schools provided information from the children’s Foundation Stage profiles. Phonological awareness skills (syllable and rhyme) were also measured, as was reading development. Overall, children showed greater temporal accuracy (rhythmic entrainment) in keeping time with a musical piece than in keeping time with a metronome. Entrainment accuracy was greatest at the 500 ms rate, the only rate for which entrainment was as accurate with music and metronome. Individual differences in rhythmic entrainment whilst drumming were not linked to I.Q. Children were more temporally accurate when singing than in the rhythmic entrainment tasks and temporal accuracy at pulse rates of 500 ms (2 Hz) and 666 ms (1.5 Hz) showed some significant links to rhyme awareness and to reading. Temporal accuracy in singing a rhyming word on time was also greatest at 500 ms, although simply singing along to music did not show a preferred rate. Unexpectedly, temporal accuracy in singing was linked to I.Q., and was not linked independently to syllable and rhyme awareness. However, temporal accuracy in singing at the 500 ms rate was linked to reading. In Sample 2 of the PhD I report on the results of a seven-week three group matched intervention study of 99 children. The intervention was designed to investigate whether a short intervention of either music or ‘rhythmic speech’ based around the preferred rate of 500ms would lead to improved phonological awareness skills. Group 1 was given a programme of music games and songs, and group 2 was given a matched programme of games and ‘rhythmic speech’, without musical accompaniment or singing, to promote syllable and rhyme awareness. A third group, who received no additional training acted as a control. The results show that an intervention based on rhythmic structure in either a rhythmic speech form or in musical form can be successful in improving children’s phonological awareness skills. The rhythmic speech programme proved to be a more successful vehicle than the music intervention in improving the phonological skills of this group of 90 children. Both interventions were successful in improving both rhyme and syllable awareness, but the greatest improvements came in the syllable tests. There was further evidence that an intervention in either rhythmic speech or music would impact on the children’s future reading skills. Both interventions produced significantly higher correlations with a Word Reading test than the control group. There was no evidence to suggest that a musical intervention based on tapping along to a beat was of more benefit than one based on rhythmic speech. Overall the evidence gathered from the data in this study does suggest that there are direct links between rhythmic awareness, as measured by tapping to an isochronous beat, and the children’s capacity to decode phonological information. The favoured rate at which the brain processes information in both domains, thus linking them together, is at a pulse rate with an Inter Onset Interval set to 500ms. This study’s results could be used to support the development of rhythmic based interventions, in both a rhythmic speech and musical form in support of early literacy skills in 4 and 5 –year –old children.

O ouvido absoluto é descrito como a habilidade de nomear ou produzir notas musicais sem uma referência externa. Estudos recentes sugerem o processamento mais rápido de informação linguística em pessoas que possuem a habilidade. Sabe-se que conteúdo rítmico é um elemento essencial para o processamento linguístico. No entanto, não se sabe se pessoas com ouvido absoluto processam informação rítmica de maneira distinta. O objetivo deste trabalho foi verificar as possíveis diferenças entre portadores e não portadores de ouvido absoluto no processamento de padrões rítmicos em estímulos sonoros. Dezesseis participantes, sendo 8 com ouvido absoluto e 8 sem a habilidade foram submetidos a uma tarefa psicofísica, na qual deveriam reproduzir sequências rítmicas, com acurácia. Como critério de comparação, consideraram-se o número de intervalos produzidos e a evolução da acurácia temporal ao longo da tarefa. Não se observaram diferenças significativas entre os grupos. Os resultados sugerem que, no processamento de informação rítmica não há participação significativa de processos nervosos especificamente presentes apenas em pessoas com ouvido absoluto / Absolute pitch is described as the ability to name or produce musical notes without an external reference. Recent studies suggest faster processing of linguistic information in people with this skill. It is known that rhythmic content is an essential element for linguistic processing. However, it is not known whether people with absolute pitch process rhythmic information differently. The objective of this work was to verify whether differences exist between absolute pitch and non-absolute pitch possessors in processing rhythmic patterns in sound stimuli. Sixteen participants, 8 with absolute pitch and 8 without the ability, underwent a psychophysical task, in which they were asked to reproduce as accurately as possible rhythmic sequences presented to them. As a criterion of performance, we considered the number of intervals produced and the evolution of temporal accuracy as the task was carried out. No significant difference was found between the two groups. The results suggest that in the processing of rhythmic information there is no significant participation of nervous circuitry specifically present only in absolute pitch possessors

O ouvido absoluto é descrito como a habilidade de nomear ou produzir notas musicais sem uma referência externa. Estudos recentes sugerem o processamento mais rápido de informação linguística em pessoas que possuem a habilidade. Sabe-se que conteúdo rítmico é um elemento essencial para o processamento linguístico. No entanto, não se sabe se pessoas com ouvido absoluto processam informação rítmica de maneira distinta. O objetivo deste trabalho foi verificar as possíveis diferenças entre portadores e não portadores de ouvido absoluto no processamento de padrões rítmicos em estímulos sonoros. Dezesseis participantes, sendo 8 com ouvido absoluto e 8 sem a habilidade foram submetidos a uma tarefa psicofísica, na qual deveriam reproduzir sequências rítmicas, com acurácia. Como critério de comparação, consideraram-se o número de intervalos produzidos e a evolução da acurácia temporal ao longo da tarefa. Não se observaram diferenças significativas entre os grupos. Os resultados sugerem que, no processamento de informação rítmica não há participação significativa de processos nervosos especificamente presentes apenas em pessoas com ouvido absoluto / Absolute pitch is described as the ability to name or produce musical notes without an external reference. Recent studies suggest faster processing of linguistic information in people with this skill. It is known that rhythmic content is an essential element for linguistic processing. However, it is not known whether people with absolute pitch process rhythmic information differently. The objective of this work was to verify whether differences exist between absolute pitch and non-absolute pitch possessors in processing rhythmic patterns in sound stimuli. Sixteen participants, 8 with absolute pitch and 8 without the ability, underwent a psychophysical task, in which they were asked to reproduce as accurately as possible rhythmic sequences presented to them. As a criterion of performance, we considered the number of intervals produced and the evolution of temporal accuracy as the task was carried out. No significant difference was found between the two groups. The results suggest that in the processing of rhythmic information there is no significant participation of nervous circuitry specifically present only in absolute pitch possessors

L’amusie congénitale est un trouble neuro-développemental se définissant par des difficultés à percevoir la musique, et ce malgré une ouïe et une intelligence normales. Un déficit de discrimination fine des hauteurs serait à l’origine de ce trouble, qui se traduit notamment par une incapacité à détecter les fausses notes. afin de mieux comprendre les facteurs génétiques contribuant à la manifestation de l’amusie congénitale, la présente étude avait pour objectif: (a) de déterminer si la performance sur diverses tâches musicales et auditives était plus similaire chez les jumeaux identiques (monozygotes ; MZ) que chez les jumeaux non-identiques (dizygotes ; DZ) et (b) d’explorer les variables relatives à l’environnement musical des jumeaux, afin de mieux comprendre les contributions de l’environnement et de la génétique dans les différences sous-tendant les habiletés musicales. De plus, le profil des sujets amusiques a été analysé afin de vérifier s’il correspondait à celui décrit dans la littérature, faisant état de difficultés tonales, mais non rythmiques. Huit paires de jumeaux MZ et six paires de jumeaux DZ, parmi lesquelles au moins un des co-jumeaux était potentiellement amusique, ont pris part à cette étude. Les tâches consistaient en un test en ligne de perception mélodique et rythmique, un test de détection des différences de hauteurs, ainsi qu’un test de chant. L’analyse de la performance et de l’environnement musical des jumeaux MZ et DZ ne révèle aucune distinction comportementale entre ces deux groupes en ce qui concerne les habiletés musicales. Cela suggère que celles-ci puissent être davantage influencées par l’environnement partagé que par les facteurs génétiques. Enfin, les jumeaux amusiques ont le profil habituel d’habiletés musicales. En effet, ils commettent des erreurs de perception et de production musicale au niveau mélodique, mais ont une perception rythmique préservée. D’autres études, notamment avec de plus grands échantillons de jumeaux, seront nécessaires afin d’élucider la possible étiologie génétique sous-tendant l’amusie congénitale. / Music is an important part of every known culture, and its universality raises the question of a possible biological basis. Musical disorders, such as congenital amusia, offer compelling insight into these roots. In order to examine the genetic basis of this phenotype, we used a classical twin study paradigm. Our study had two main goals: (a) investigate if identical (monozygotic; MZ) co-twins perform more similarly on auditory and musical tasks than non-identical (dizygotic; DZ) co-twins and (b) explore the twins’ musical environments in order to better understand the contribution of environmental versus genetic factors in the differences underlying musical abilities. In addition, we sought to replicate previous investigations that demonstrated impaired pitch processing but intact rhythm perception in amusic participants. To do so, we tested eight pairs of MZ and six pairs of DZ twins in which at least one of the co-twins was potentially amusic. Participants completed an online amusia test, a pitch detection task and a singing task. We observed no performance or musical environment differences between MZ and DZ twins, suggesting that musical abilities might be more influenced by the twins’ shared environment than by genetic factors. In addition, and as reported in previous studies, amusics made pitch processing errors in both perception and production, but rhythmic perception was preserved. Future studies, particularly those with access to larger twin samples, will be able to further elucidate the roles of environmental and genetic factors in the amusic phenotype.

L’amusie congénitale est un trouble neuro-développemental se définissant par des difficultés à percevoir la musique, et ce malgré une ouïe et une intelligence normales. Un déficit de discrimination fine des hauteurs serait à l’origine de ce trouble, qui se traduit notamment par une incapacité à détecter les fausses notes. afin de mieux comprendre les facteurs génétiques contribuant à la manifestation de l’amusie congénitale, la présente étude avait pour objectif: (a) de déterminer si la performance sur diverses tâches musicales et auditives était plus similaire chez les jumeaux identiques (monozygotes ; MZ) que chez les jumeaux non-identiques (dizygotes ; DZ) et (b) d’explorer les variables relatives à l’environnement musical des jumeaux, afin de mieux comprendre les contributions de l’environnement et de la génétique dans les différences sous-tendant les habiletés musicales. De plus, le profil des sujets amusiques a été analysé afin de vérifier s’il correspondait à celui décrit dans la littérature, faisant état de difficultés tonales, mais non rythmiques. Huit paires de jumeaux MZ et six paires de jumeaux DZ, parmi lesquelles au moins un des co-jumeaux était potentiellement amusique, ont pris part à cette étude. Les tâches consistaient en un test en ligne de perception mélodique et rythmique, un test de détection des différences de hauteurs, ainsi qu’un test de chant. L’analyse de la performance et de l’environnement musical des jumeaux MZ et DZ ne révèle aucune distinction comportementale entre ces deux groupes en ce qui concerne les habiletés musicales. Cela suggère que celles-ci puissent être davantage influencées par l’environnement partagé que par les facteurs génétiques. Enfin, les jumeaux amusiques ont le profil habituel d’habiletés musicales. En effet, ils commettent des erreurs de perception et de production musicale au niveau mélodique, mais ont une perception rythmique préservée. D’autres études, notamment avec de plus grands échantillons de jumeaux, seront nécessaires afin d’élucider la possible étiologie génétique sous-tendant l’amusie congénitale. / Music is an important part of every known culture, and its universality raises the question of a possible biological basis. Musical disorders, such as congenital amusia, offer compelling insight into these roots. In order to examine the genetic basis of this phenotype, we used a classical twin study paradigm. Our study had two main goals: (a) investigate if identical (monozygotic; MZ) co-twins perform more similarly on auditory and musical tasks than non-identical (dizygotic; DZ) co-twins and (b) explore the twins’ musical environments in order to better understand the contribution of environmental versus genetic factors in the differences underlying musical abilities. In addition, we sought to replicate previous investigations that demonstrated impaired pitch processing but intact rhythm perception in amusic participants. To do so, we tested eight pairs of MZ and six pairs of DZ twins in which at least one of the co-twins was potentially amusic. Participants completed an online amusia test, a pitch detection task and a singing task. We observed no performance or musical environment differences between MZ and DZ twins, suggesting that musical abilities might be more influenced by the twins’ shared environment than by genetic factors. In addition, and as reported in previous studies, amusics made pitch processing errors in both perception and production, but rhythmic perception was preserved. Future studies, particularly those with access to larger twin samples, will be able to further elucidate the roles of environmental and genetic factors in the amusic phenotype.