Neural Correlates of Beat Processing in Infancy and Their Association With Later Grammar Development: Evidence for the Atypical Rhythm Risk Hypothesis
Year: 2026
Type: preprint
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: Infants show evidence of beat processing from birth, but its neural correlates in infancy remain poorly understood. Moreover, although rhythm and grammar abilities are closely linked in older (school-aged) children, it is not known whether individual differences in infant beat processing lay the foundations for those associations. This longitudinal EEG study examined neural correlates of beat processing in 6–12-month-old infants (N=37) and their relation to sentence comprehension skills in the same children at 4 years. We analyzed infants’ evoked time–frequency responses to rhythmic tone–tone–rest sequences presented in physically accented conditions and in inferred-beat conditions, in which accents were removed after an initial exposure phase.. Analyses revealed a significant increase in power to physically accented beats (9–24 Hz, p < .001). Individual differences in this response were positively associated with receptive grammar performance at age 4, assessed with the TROG-2 (r = .48, p = .005), and remained significant after controlling for infant age, parent education, and home music environment (β = .45, p = .011). The inferred beat effect was not related to later sentence comprehension performance. These findings indicate that infant neural activity tracks beat structure, with neural correlates broadly similar to those reported in adults, and that early neural sensitivity to beat is associated with later grammar development, supporting the Atypical Rhythm Risk Hypothesis.
Institution: Princeton University
Language: English
Subfield: Cognitive Neuroscience
Field: Neuroscience
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7221179814