Unveiling predictors of beat perception and rhythm discrimination in typically developing preschoolers

There is growing interest in understanding the relationship between language, music, and cognitive skills, particularly in typical and atypical populations, with implications for academic achievement and therapeutic interventions. While previous research has largely focused on correlating individual language and music skills, it often lacks a comprehensive approach to exploring the interactions among multiple variables. This study aimed to explore the predictors of beat perception and rhythm discrimination in typically developing children, with a focus on language and working memory abilities. We further used supervised and unsupervised learning techniques to explore sub-groups of participants with different performance. Thirty-seven typically developing monolingual Greek preschool children completed the protocol, covering language skills (morphosyntax production and morphosyntax and syntax comprehension, phonological awareness), cognitive (verbal and phonological working memory, visuospatial working memory), and music/temporal processing skills (melody and rhythm discrimination, beat perception). Our findings show that working memory was a significant predictor for rhythm discrimination, underscoring the possible implication of domain-general cognitive abilities. Language skills (morphosyntax production, morphosyntax and syntax comprehension, syllable manipulation) contributed minimally to predicting both beat perception and rhythm discrimination, with standardized effects indicating moderate associations in some cases. In reversing the direction of prediction, beat perception—but not rhythm discrimination—significantly predicted morphosyntax/syntax comprehension performance. Hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA) revealed individual differences within the sample, identifying two sub-groups with differing language and cognitive performance, emphasizing the need to further investigate individual variability in typically developing populations. These results suggest that beat perception and rhythm discrimination tap into different mechanisms, with working memory being critical for rhythm discrimination, and highlight the importance of distinguishing these constructs for future diagnostic and therapeutic applications. These findings need to be confirmed in future studies including larger sample sizes.