Kids better at detecting musical rhythm are better grammar learners too

A new research has revealed that children's ability to distinguish musical rhythm is related to his or her capacity for understanding grammar.

Lead author Reyna Gordon from the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center looks forward to the possibilities of using musical education to improve grammar skills, for example, rhythm could be taken into account when measuring grammar in children with language disorders.

Gordon said that this may help them predict who would be the best candidate for particular types of therapy or who's responding the best.

In grammar, children's minds must sort the sounds they hear into words, phrases and sentences and the rhythm of speech helps them to do so and in music, rhythmic sequences give structure to musical phrases and help listeners figure out how to move to the beat.

Gordon suggested that perhaps children who are better at detecting variations in music timing are also better at detecting variations in speech and therefore have an advantage in learning language.

Gordon added that people in the field of music cognition know that music does have a unique role in brain development.

The study is published online in the journal Developmental Science.